
Class _/ ^ 



Book. 



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Copyright ]^^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE MOUNTAIN 



1 hold above a careless land 

The menace of the skies; 
Within the hollow of my hand 

The sleeping tempest lies. 
Mine are the promise of the morn. 

The triumph of the day; 
And parting sunset's beams forlorn 

Upon my heights delay. 

— Edward Sydney Tylee 




3 E 



'^ s 



N 



THE GUARDIANS 
OF THE COLUMBIA 

MOUNT HOOD, MOUNT ADAMS AND MOUNT ST. HELENS 

By JOHN H. WILLIAMS 

Author of "THE MOUNTAIN THATWAS 'GOD'" 



And mountains that like giants sfand 
To sentinel enchanted land. 

Scott: "The Lady of the Lake." 



WITH MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS 
INCLUDING EIGHT IN COLORS 



TACOMA 

JOHN H. WILLIAMS 

1912 



^ $63 





Climbing the last steep slope on Mount Houu. 'ironi Cooper's Spur, with 
ropes anchored on ¥ut«iait. 



Copyright, 191-2, by John H. Williams. 



€aA310546 




Willamette River at Portland, with ships loading wheat and lumber for foreign ports. 



FOREWORD 



In offering this second volume of a proposed series on Western mountain scenery, I am 
fortunate in having a subject as unhackneyed as was that of "The Mountain that Was 'God.' " 
The Columbia River has been described in many publications about the Northwest, but 
the three fine snow-peaks guarding its great canyon have received scant attention, and that 
mainly from periodicals of local circulation. 

These peaks are vitally a part of the vast Cascade-Columbia scene to which they give 
a climax. Hence the story here told by text and picture has necessarily included the stage 
upon which they were built up. And since the great forests of this mountain and river dis- 
trict are a factor of its beauty as well as its wealth, I am glad to be able to present a brief 
chapter about them from the competent hand of Mr. H. D. Langille, formerly of the United 
States forest service. A short bibliography, with notes on transportation routes, hotels, guides 
and other matters of interest to travelers and students, will be found at the end. 

Accuracy has been my first aim. I have tried to avoid the exaggeration employed in 
much current writing for the supposed edification of tourists. It has seemed to me that 
simply and briefly to tell the truth about the fascinating Columbia country would be the best 
service I could render to those who love its splendid mountains and its noble river. A mass 
of books, government documents and scientific essays has been examined. This literature 
is more or less contradictory, and as I cannot hope to have avoided all errors, I shall be grate- 
ful for any correction of my text. 

In choosing the illustrations, I have sought to show the individuality of each peak. 
Mountains, like men, wear their history on their faces, — none more so than Hood's sharp and 
finely scarred pyramid; or Adams, with its wide, truncated dome and deeply carved slopes; 
or St. Helens, newest of all our extinct volcanoes — if, indeed, it be extinct, — ^and least marred 
by the ice, its cone as perfect as Fujiyama's. Each has its own wonderful story to tell of ancient 
and often recent vulcanism. Let me again suggest that readers who would get the full value 
of the more comprehensive illustrations will find a reading glass very useful. 

Thanks are due to many helpers. More than fifty photographers, professional and 
amateur, are named in the table of illustrations. Without their co-operation the book would 
have been impossible. I am also indebted for valued information and assistance to the libra- 
rians at the Portland and Tacoma public libraries, the officers and members of the several 
mountaineering clubs in Portland, and the passenger departments of the railways reaching 
that city; to Prof. Harry Fielding Reid, the eminent geologist of Johns Hopkins University; 



8 FOREWORD 

Fred G. Plummer, geographer of the United States forest service; Dr. George Otis Smith, 
director of the United States geological survey; Judge Harrington Putnam, of New York, 
president of the American Alpine Club; Messrs. Rodney L. Glisan, William M. Ladd, H. O. 
Stabler, T. H. Sherrard, Judge W. B. Gilbert, H. L. Pittock, George H. Himes, John Gill, 
C. E. Rusk, and others in Portland and elsewhere. 

The West has much besides magnificent scenery to give those who visit it. Here have 
been played, upon a grander stage, the closing acts in the great drama of state-building which 
opened three hundred years ago on the Atlantic Coast. The setting has powerfully moulded 
the history, and we must know one if we would understand the other. Europe, of course, 
offers to the American student of culture and the arts something which travel here at home 
cannot supply. But every influence that brings the different sections of the United States 
into closer touch and fuller sympathy makes for patriotism and increased national strength. 

This, rather than regret for the two hundred millions of dollars which our tourists spend 
abroad each year, is the true basis of the "See America First" movement. According to 
his capacity, the tourist commonly gets value for his money, whether traveling in Europe 
or America. But Eastern ignorance of the West is costing the country more than the drain 
of tourist money. 

This volume is presented, therefore, as a call to better appreciation of the splendor and 
worth of our own land. Its publication will be justified if it is found to merit in some 
degree the commendation given its predecessor by Prof. W. D. Lyman, of Whitman College, 
whose delightful book on the Columbia has been consulted and whose personal advice has 
been of gieat value throughout my work. "I wish to express the conviction," writes Prof. 
Lyman, "that you have done an inestimable service to all who love beauty, and who stand 
for those higher things among our possessions that cannot be measured in money, but which 
have an untold bearing upon the finer sensibilities of a nation." 
Tacoma, June 15, 1912. 




Mount Adams, seen from south slope of Mount St. Helens, near the summit, shovviniJ the Cascade ranjies 
below. Note the great burn in the forest cover of the ridges. "Steamboat Mountain" is seen in 
the distance beyond. Elevation of camera, nearly 9,000 feet. 




Looking up the Columbia at Lyie, Washington. 



CONTEXTS 



I. THE RIVER. 

Dawn at Cloud Cap Inn — The geological dawn — Cascade-Sierra uptilt — Rise of 
the snow-peaks — An age of vulcanism — Origin of the great Columbia gorge — Dawn 
in Indian legend — The "Bridge of the Gods" — -Victory of Young Chinook — Dawn 
of modern history — The pioneers and the state builders 



15 



II. THE MOUNTAINS. 

Portland's snowy sentinels — Ruskin on the mountains — Cascades vs. Alps — Mount 
Hood and its retreating glaciers — ^The Mazamas — A shattered crater — -Mount 
Adams — Lava and ice caves — ^Mount St. Helens — The struggle of the forest on 
the lava beds — Adventures of the climbers — The Mazamas in peril — -An heroic 
rescue 



57 



III. THE FORESTS, by HAROLD DOUGLAS LANGILLE. 

Outposts at timber line — The alpine parks — Zone of the great trees — Douglas fir — 
From snow-line to ocean beach — Conservation and reforestation 123 



NOTES 



140 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



The ■■ 
illustration. 



indicates engravings from copyrighted photographs. See notice under the 



THREE-COLOR HALFTONES. 

Title Photographer Page 
*Dawn on Spirit Lake, north side of Mount St. Helens . . Dr. U. M. Lauman Frontispiece 

*St. Peter's Dome, with the Columbia and Mount Adams .... G. M. Weister 20 

♦Nightfall on the Columbia Kiser Photo Co. 37 

♦Columbia River and Mount Hood, from White Salmon, Washington Kiser Photo Co. 56 

*Mount Hood, with crevasses of Eliot glacier G. M. Weister 73 

*Ice Castle and crevasse, Eliot glacier G. M. Weister 92 

♦Columbia River and Mount Adams, from Hood River, Oregon . . Benj. A. Gifford 109 

An Island of Color — Rhododendrons and Squaw Grass Asahel Curtis 127 



10 ILLUSTRATIONS 

ONE-COLOR HALFTONES. 

Title Photographer Page 

*Climbing to summit of Mount Hood from Cooper Spur G. M. Weister 6 

Willamette River and Portland Harbor G. M. Weister 7 

Mount Adams, from south slope of Mount St. Helens G. M. Weister 8 

Columbia River at Lyle William R. King 9 

Mount Hood, seen from the Columbia at Vancouver L. C. Henrichsen 14 

Trout Lake and Mount Adams Prof. Harry Fielding Reid 15 

Mount St. Helens, seen from the Columbia, with railway bridge . . C. S. Reeves 15 

*View up the Columbia, opposite Astoria G. M. Weister 16 

Astoria in 1813 From an old print 16 

*View north from Eliot glacier G. M. Weister 17 

Columbia Slough, near mouth of the Willamette George F. Holman 18 

*Cape Horn Kiser Photo Co. 19 

Mount Hood, seen from Columbia Slough L. C. Henrichsen 21 

*Campfire of Yakima Indians at Astoria Centennial Frank Woodfield 21 

Sunset at mouth of the Columbia Frank Woodfield 22 

Portland, the Willamette, and Mounts Hood, Adams and St. Helens Angelus Photo Co. 22 

"The Coming of the White Man" L. C. Henrichsen 23 

"Sacajawea" G. M. Weister 23 

Sunset on Vancouver Lake Jas. Waggener, Jr. 24 

Fort Vancouver in 1852 From an old lithograph 24 

♦Rooster Rock G. M. Weister 25 

Seining for Salmon on the lower Columbia Frank Woodfield 25 

*The Columbia near Butler, looking across to Multnomah Falls . Kiser Photo Co. 26 

Captain Som-kin, chief of Indian police Lee Moorhouse 26 

♦Multnomah Falls in Summer and Winter (2) Kiser Photo Co. 27 

♦View from the cliffs at Multnomah Falls Kiser Photo Co. 28 

♦The broad Columbia, seen from Lone Rock Kiser Photo Co. 29 

Castle Rock, seen from Mosquito Island Kiser Photo Co. 29 

♦The Columbia opposite Oneonta Gorge and Horsetail Falls . . . Kiser Photo Co. 30 

An Original American C. C. Hutchins 30 

♦View from elevation west of St. Peter's Dome Kiser Photo Co. 31 

♦Oneonta Gorge G. M. Weister 32 

Looking up the Columbia, near Bonneville H. J. Thorne 33 

Salmon trying to jump the Falls of the Willamette Jas. Waggener, Jr. 33 

♦In the Columbia Canyon at Cascade Kiser Photo Co. 34 

♦The Cascades of the Columbia G. M. Weister 35 

♦Fishwheel below the Cascades, with Table Mountain G. M. Weister 36 

♦Sunrise on the Columbia, from top of Table Mountain Kiser Photo Co. 36 

Looking down the Columbia below the Cascades L. J. Hicks 38 

♦Wind Mountain and submerged forest G. M. Weister 39 

Steamboat entering Cascades Locks G. M. Weister 39 

Moonlight on the Columbia, with clouds on Wind Mountain ... C. S. Reeves 40 

♦White Salmon River and its Gorge (2) Kiser Photo Co. 41 

Looking down the Columbia Canyon from White Salmon, Washington S. C. Reeves 42 

An Oregon Trout Stream L. C. Henrichsen 42 

Looking up the Columbia from Hood River, Oregon F. C. Howell 43 

♦Hood River, fed by the glaciers of Mount Hood Benj. A. Gifford 43 

A Late Winter Afternoon; the Columbia from White Salmon ... C. C. Hutchins 44 

♦Memaloose Island G. M. Weister 44 

"Gateway to the Inland Empire;" the Columbia at Lyle Kiser Photo Co. 45 

"Grant Castle" and Palisades of the Columbia below The Dalles . G. M. Weister 46 

♦The Dalles of the Columbia, lower channel G. M. Weister 47 

Cabbage Rock Lee Moorehouse 47 

A True Fish Story of the Columbia Frank Woodfield 48 

The Zigzag River in Winter T. Brook White 48 

♦The Dalles, below Celilo G. M. Weister 49 

The "Witch's Head," an Indian picture rock Lee Moorehouse 50 

Village of Indian tepees, Umatilla Reservation Lee Moorehouse 50 

Mount Adams, seen from Eagle Peak Asahel Curtis 51 

A Clearing in the Forest; Mount Hood from Sandy, Oregon ... L. C. Henrichsen 51 

An Indian Madonna and Child Lee Moorehouse 52 

Finished portion of Canal at Celilo Ed. Ledgerwood 52 

♦Sentinels of "the Wallula Gateway" G. M. Weister 53 

♦Tumwater, the falls of the Columbia at Celilo Kiser Photo Co. 54 

♦Summit of Mount Hood, from west end of ridge G. M. Weister 55 

North side of Mount Hood, from ridge west of Cloud Cap Inn . . George R. Miller 57 



ILLUSTRATIONS 11 

Title Photographer Page 

Winter on Mount Hood Rodney L. Glisan 57 

*Watching the Climbers, from Cloud Cap Inn G. M. Weister 58 

Lower end of Eliot glacier, seen from Cooper Spur E. D. Jorgensen 59 

Snout of Eliot glacier Prof. W. D. Lyman 59 

Cone of Mount Hood, seen from Cooper Spur F. W. Freeborn 60 

Cloud Cap Inn George R. Miller 60 

*Portland's White Sentinel, Mount Hood G. M. Weister 61 

*Ice Cascade on Eliot glacier. Mount Hood G. M. Weister 62 

Portland Snow-shoe Club members on Eliot glacier in Winter . . Rodney L. Glisan 62 

*Snow-bridge over great crevasse, Eliot glacier G. M. Weister 63 

*Coasting down east side of Mount Hood, above Cooper Spur . . G. M. Weister 63 

*Mount Hood, from hills south of The Dalles G. M. Weister 64 

*Mount Hood, from Larch Mountain L. J. Hicks 65 

Butterfly on summit of Mount Hood Shoji Endow 66 

Portland Snow-shoe Club and Club House (2) Rodney L. Glisan 66 

Fumarole, or gas vent, near Crater Rock L. J. Hicks 66 

Looking across the head of Eliot glacier Shoji Endow 67 

Mount Hood at night, from Cloud Cap Inn William M. Ladd 67 

Climbing Mount Hood; the rope anchor (2) ... George R. Miller and Shoji Endow 68 

North side of Mount Hood, from moraine of Coe glacier . . Prof. Harry Fielding Reid 69 

*Looking west on summit, with Mazama Rock below G. M. Weister 70 

Summit of Mount Hood, from Mazama Rock F. W. Freeborn 70 

Mount Hood, from Sandy Canyon L. J. Hicks 71 

Crevasses of Coe glacier (2) Mary C. Voorhees 72 

*Crevasse and Ice Pinnacles on Eliot glacier G. M. Weister 74 

Mount Hood, seen from the top of Barret Spur Prof. Harry Fielding Reid 75 

Ice Cascade, south side of Mount Hood Prof. J. N. LeConte 75 

Little Sandy or Reid glacier, west side of Mount Hood Elisha Coalman 76 

Portland Y. M. C. A. party starting for the summit A. M. Grilley 76 

Crater of Mount Hood, seen from south side L. J. Hicks 77 

South side of Mount Hood, from Tom-Dick-and-Harry Ridge .... L. E. Anderson 78 

Crag on which above view was taken H. J. Thome 78 

Part of the "bergschrund" above Crater Rock G. M. Weister 79 

Prof. Reid and party exploring Zigzag glacier Asahel Curtis 79 

Mazamas near Crater Rock (2) Asahel Curtis 80 

Portland Ski Club on south side of Mount Hood E. D. Jorgensen 81 

Mount Hood Lily William L. Finley 81 

Mazama party exploring White River glacier (2) Asahel Curtis 82 

Newton Clark glacier, seen from Cooper Spur Shoji Endow 83 

Looking from Mount Jefferson to Mount Hood L. J. Hicks 83 

*Shadow of Mount Hood G. M. Weister 84 

Snout of Newton Clark glacier Prof. Harry Fielding Reid 84 

*Mount Hood and Hood River Benj. A. Gifford 85 

Lava Flume near Trout Lake Ray M. Filloon 86 

Y. M. C. A. party from North Yakima at Red Butte Eugene Bradbury 86 

Ice Cave in lava bed near Trout Lake Ray M. Filloon 87 

*Mount Adams, from northeast side of Mount St. Helens G. M. Weister 88 

Mount Adams, from Trout Creek at Guler L. J. Hicks 89 

Climbers on South Butte Ray M. Filloon 89 

Dawn on Mount Adams, telephotographed from Guler at 4 a .m. . . L. J. Hicks 90 

Foraging in the Snow Crissie Cameron 90 

*Steers Cliff, southeast side of Mount Hood G. M. Weister 91 

Mazamas Climbing Mount Adams Asahel Curtis 93 

Mount Adams from lake, with hotel site above Ed. Hess 93 

Climbing from South Peak to Middle Peak L. J. Hicks 94 

Mount Adams, seen from Happy Valley Asahel Curtis 94 

Mount Adams, from Snow-plow Mountain Ed. Hess 95 

*Wind-whittled Ice near summit of Mount Adams S. C. Smith 95 

Mazama glacier and Hellroaring Canyon (2) William R. King 96 

Nearing the Summit of Mount Adams, south side Shoji Endow 97 

Ice Cascade, above Klickitat glacier Ray M. Filloon 97 

An Upland Park H. O. Stabler 97 

Mount Adams and Klickitat glacier Prof. Harry Fielding Reid 98 

Storm on Klickitat glacier, seen from the Ridge of Wonders . . Prof. W. D. Lyman 99 

Snow Cornice and Crevasse, head of Klickitat glacier (2) H. V. Abel and Ray M. Filloon 100 

Mount Adams, from the Northeast Prof. Harry Fielding Reid 101 

*Mount Adams, from Sunnyside, Washington Asahel Curtis 102 



12 ILLUSTRATIONS 

Title Photographer Page 

Crevasse in Lava glacier Eugene Bradbury 102 

North Peak, with the Mountaineers starting for the summit ... W. M. Gorham 103 

Snow-bridge over Killing Creek W. H. Gorham 103 

Route up the Cleaver, north side of Mount Adams Eugene Bradbury 104 

Looking across Adams glacier Carlyle Ellis 104 

"The Mountain that was 'God'" seen from Mount Adams .... Asahel Curtis 105 

Northwest slope of Mount Adams Prof. Harry Fielding Reid 106 

Mount Adams from the southwest Prof. W. D. Lyman 107 

Scenes in the Lewis River Canyon (3) Jas. Waggener, Jr. 108 

*Mount Adams from Trout Lake Kiser Photo Co. 110 

Scenes on Lava Bed, south of Mount St. Helens (3) Jas. Waggener, Jr. Ill 

Lava Flume, south of Mount St. Helens Jas. Waggener, Jr. 112 

Entrance to Lava Flume Rodney L. Glisan 112 

Mount St. Helens, seen from Portland L. C. Henrichsen 113 

*Mount St. Helens, from Chelatchie Prairie Jas. Waggener, Jr, 114 

Mount St. Helens, seen from Twin Buttes Ray M. Filloon 115 

Canyons of South Toutle River U. S. Forest Service 116 

Lower Toutle Canyon Jas. Waggener, Jr. 116 

Northeast side of Mount St. Helens Dr. U. M. Lauman 117 

Mazamas on summit of Mt. St. Helens shortly before sunset Marion Randall Parsons 117 

Mount St. Helens in Winter Dr. U. M. Lauman 118 

Mount St. Helens, north side, from near the snow line Dr. U. M. Lauman 119 

Glacier Scenes, east of the "Lizard." (2) Dr. U. M. Lauman 120 

*Finest of the St. Helens glaciers G. M. Weister 121 

*Road among the Douglas Firs Asahel Curtis 122 

Ships loading lumber at one of Portland's mills The Timberman 123 

Outposts of the Forest Shoji Endow 123 

Alpine Hemlocks at the timber line Ray M. Filloon 124 

Mazamas at the foot of Mount St. Helens E. S. Curtis 124 

A Lowland Ravine E. S. Curtis 125 

*The Noble Fir Riser Photo Co. 125 

Dense Hemlock Forest G. M. Weister 126 

Mount Hood, from Ghost-tree Ridge George R. Miller 126 

*A Group of Red Cedars Asahel Curtis 128 

Road to Government Camp A. M. Grilley 129 

Firs and Hemlocks, in Clarke County, Washington Jas. Waggener, Jr. 130 

*Where Man is a Pigmy G. M. Weister 130 

Hemlock growing on Cedar log Asahel Curtis 131 

Tideland Spruce - Frank Woodfield 131 

Sugar Pine, Douglas Fir and Yellow Pine Jas. Waggener, Jr. 132 

Yellow Cedar, with young Silver Fir H. D. Norton 133 

*One of the Kings of Treeland Benj. A. Gilford 133 

*Firs and Vine Maples Jas. Waggener, Jr. 134 

Log Raft^ Benj. A. GifTord 134 

A "Burn" on Mount Hood, overgrown with Squaw Grass .... Asahel Curtis 135 

*A Noble Fir Benj. A. Gifford 136 

Western White Pine Unknown 136 

A Clatsop Forest H. D. Langille 137 

Carpet of Firs j. E. Ford 137 

Winter in the Forest, near Mount Hood E. D. Jorgensen 138 

Rangers' Pony Trail A. P. Cronk 138 

Forest Fire on East Fork of Hood River William M. Ladd 139 

Reforestation; three generations of young growth H. D. Langille 139 

Klickitat River Canyon William R. King 144 

MAPS. 

The Scenic Northwest 13 

Mount Hood 58 

Mount Adams 87 

Mount St. Helens . . 107 



.,.-^,1 



\ 




Trout Lake and Mount Adams. 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



I. 

THE RIVER 

The Columbia, viewed as one from the sea to the mountains, is like a rugged, broad- 
topped picturesque old oak, about six hundred miles long, and nearly a thousand miles wide, 
measured across the spread of its upper branches, the main limbs gnarled and swollen with 
lakes and lake-like expansions, while innumerable smaller lakes shine like fruit among the 
smaller branches. — John Muir. 



ON a frosty morning of last July, before sunrise, I stood upon the belvedere 
of the delightful Cloud Cap Inn, which a public-spirited man of Portland 
has provided for visitors to the north side of Mount Hood; and from 
that superb view- 
point, six thousand 
feet above sea level, 
watched the day come 
up out of the delicate 
saffron east. Behind 
us lay Eliot Glacier, 
sloping to the sum- 
mit of the kindling 
peak. Before us 
rose — an ocean! 

Never was a ma- 
rine picture of greater 





Mount St. Helens, seen from the Columbia at Vancouver, with railway 
bridge in foreground. 



16 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




View up the Columbia on nortli side, opposite Astoria. Noon rest of the night fishermen. Much of the 
fishing on the lower Columbia is done at night with gill-nets from small boats. The river is here 
six miles wide. 

stress. No watcher from the crags, none who go down to the sea in ships, 
ever beheld a scene more awful. Ceaselessly the mighty surges piled up 
against the ridge at our feet, as if to tear away the solid foundations of the 
mountain. Towers and castles of foam were built up, huge and white, 
against the sullen sky, only to hurl themselves into the gulf. Far to the 
north, dimly above this gray and heaving surface were seen the crests of 
three snow-mantled mountains, paler even than the undulating expanse from 
which they emerged. All between was a wild sea that rolled across sixty 
miles of space to assail those ghostly islands. 

Yet the tossing breakers gave forth no roar. It was a spectral and panto- 
mimic ocean. We "had sight of Proteus rising from the sea," but no Triton of 
the upper air blew his "wreathed horn." Cold and uncanny, all that seething 
ocean was silent as a windless lake under summer stars. It was a sea of clouds. 

Swiftly the dawn 
marched westward. 
The sun, breaking 
across the eastern 
ridges, sent long level 
beams to sprinkle the 
cloud-sea with silver. 
Its touch was magic- 
al. The billows broke 
and parted. The 
mists fled in panic. 
Cloud after cloud . c,. ^ ^ 

Astoria in 1813, showing the tradmg post established 
arose and was caught by John Jacob Astor. 




18 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



away into space. The tops of the Cascade ranges below came, one by one, 
into view. Lower and lower, with the shortening shadows, the wooded slopes 
were revealed in the morning light. Here and there some deep vale was still 
white and hidden. Scattered cloud-fleeces clung to pinnacles on the cliffs. 
Northward, the snow-peaks in Washington towered higher. Great banks of 
fog embraced their forested abutments, and surged up to their glaciers. But 
the icy summits smiled in the gladness of a new day. The reign of darkness and 
mist was broken. 

Never did sun more beautifully steep 

In his first splendor valley, rock or hill. 

Clearer and wider the picture grew. Below us, the orchards of Hood 
River caught the fresh breezes and laughed in the first sunshine. The day 
reached down into the nearer canyons, and saluted the busy, leaping brooks. 
Noisy waterfalls filled the glens with spray, and built rainbows from bank 

to bank, then hurried 
and tumbled on, in 
conceited haste, as if 
the ocean must run 
dry unless replenished 
by their wetness ere 
the sun should set 
again. Rippling 
lakes, in little mount- 
ain pockets, signaled 
their joy as blankets 
of dense vapor were 
folded up and quick- 
ly whisked away. 

Thirty miles north- 
east, a ribbon of gold 
flashed the story of a 
mighty stream at The 
Dalles. Far beyond, 
even to the uplands 
of the Umatilla and 
the Snake, to the Blue 
Mountains of eastern 
Washington and Ore- 
gon, stretched the 
wheat fields and stock 
ranges of that vast 
"Inland Empire" 
which the great river 
watered; while west- 

Columhia Sloufth in Winter, near the mouth of the Willamette. Ward, CUt deep 





COPYRIGHT. G. M. WEISTER 

St. Peter's Dome, an SOO-foot crag on the south bank of the Columbia; Mt. Adams in the distance 



Uplift against the blue walls of the sky 

Your mighty shapes, and let the sunshine weave 
s golden netvA'ork in your belting woods; 

Smile down in rainbows from your falling floods, 
>ind on your kingly brows at morn and eve 

Set crowns of fire." — Whittier. 



THE RIVER 



21 




;t,^m 



Mount Hood, seen from Columbia Slough. 

through a dozen folds of the Cascades, the chasm it had torn on its way to 
the sea was traced in the faint blue that distance paints upon evergreen hills. 
Out on our left, beyond the mountains, the Willamette slipped down its 
famous valley to join the larger river; and still farther, a hundred and fifty 
miles away, our glasses caught the vague gray line of the Pacific. Within 




Campfire of Yakima Indians gathered at the Astoria Centennial, 1911, to take part in "The Bridge 
of the Gods," a dramatization of Balch's famous story. The celebration of the one hundredth 
anniversary of the Astor trading post at the mouth of the Columbia was made noteworthy by 
a revival of Indian folk lore, in which the myth of the great tamahnawas bridge held first place. 



THE RIVER 



23 



these limits of vision lay a 
noble and historic country, 
the lower watershed of the 
Columbia. 

Earth has not anything 
to show more fair. 

Wide as was the prospect, 
however, it called the im- 
agination to a still broader 
view; to look back, indeed, — 
how many millions of years? 
— to an earlier dawn, bound- 
ed by the horizons of geo- 
logical time. Let us try to 
realize the panorama thus 
unfolded. As we look down 
from some aerial viewpoint. 




"The Coming of the White Man" and 
"Sacajawea," statues in Portland 
City Park which commemorate the 
aboriginal Americans. 

behold! there is no Mount 
Hood and no Cascade Range. 
The volcanic snow-peaks of 
Oregon and Washington are 
still embryo in the womb of 
earth. We stand face to 
face with the beginnings of 
the Northwest. 

Far south and east of our 
castle-in-the-air, islands rise 
slowly out of a Pacific that 
has long rolled, unbroken, to 
the Rocky Mountains. 



24 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




We see the ocean 
bed pushed above 
the tide in what men 
of later ages will call 
the Siskiyou and the 
Blue Mountains, one 
range in southwest- 
ern, the other in east- 
ern, Oregon. A third 
uptilt, the great Oka- 
nogan, in northern 
Washington, soon ap- 
pears. All else is sea. 
Upon these primi- 
tive uplands, the 
date is written in the fossil archives of their ancient sea beaches, raised thou- 
sands of feet above the former shore-line level. At a time when all western 
Europe was still ocean, and busy foraminifers were strewing its floor with 
shells to form the chalk beds of France and England, these first lands of our 
Northwest emerged from the great deep. It is but a glimpse we get into the 
immeasurable distance of the Paleozoic. Its time-units are centuries instead 
of minutes. 

Another glance, as the next long geological age passes, and we perceive 
a second step in the making of the West. It is the gradual uplift of a thin 
sea-dike, separating the two islands first disclosed, and stretching from the 
present Lower California to our Alaska. It is a folding of the earth's crust 
that will, for innumerable ages, exercise a controlling influence upon the whole 
western slope of North America. At first merely a sea-dike, we see it slowly 
become a far-reaching range of hills, and then a vast continental mountain 



Sunset on Vancouver Lake, near Vancouver, Washington. 









Fort Vancouver in 1852. 



THE RIVER 



25 




Rooster Rock, south bank of the Columbia. 

system, covering a broad region with its spurs and interlying plateaus, "The 
highest mountains," our school geographies used to tell us, "parallel the deepest 
oceans." So here, bordering its profound depths, the Pacific ocean, through 
centuries of centuries, thrust upward, fold on fold, the lofty ridges of this 
colossal Sierra-Cascade barrier, to be itself a guide of further land building, 
a governor of climate, and a reservoir of water for valleys and river basins 
as yet unborn. 

Behind this barrier, what revolutions are recorded! The inland sea, at 
first a huge body of ocean waters, becomes in time a fresh-water lake. In its 
three thousand feet of sedi- ^. 
ment, it buries the fossils of 
a strange reptilian life, cover- 
ing hundreds of thousands 
of years. Cycle follows cycle, 
altering the face of all that 
interior basin. Its vast lake 
is lessened in area as it is 
cut off from the Utah lake 

on the south and hemmed in Selnlng for salmon on the lower Columbia. 




26 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




The Columbia near Butler, looking across to Multnomah Falls. 

by upfolds on the north. Then its bed is hfted up and broken by forces of 
which our present-day experiences give us no example. Instead of one great 
lake, as drainage proceeds, we behold at last a wide country of many lakes and 

rivers. Their shores are clothed in 
tropical vegetation. Under the palms, 
flourish a race of giant mammals. The 
broad-faced ox, the mylodon, mam- 
moth, elephant, rhinoceros, and 
mastodon, and with them the camel 
and the three-toed horse, roam the 
forests that are building the coal de- 
posits for a later age. This story of 
the Eocene and Miocene time is also 
told in the fossils of the period, and 
we may read it in the strata deposited 
by the lakes. 

Age succeeds age, not always 

distinct, but often overlapping one 

another, and all changing the face of 

nature. The Coast Range rises, shut- 

.,..,. .. ting in vast gulfs to fill later, and 

Captain Som-Kin, chief of Indian poUce, ^'"6' "^ * " ^ & ' 

Umatilla reservation. form the vallcys of the Sacrameuto 




THE RIVER 



27 




and San Joaquin in California and 
the Willamette in Oregon, with 
the partly filled basin of Puget 
Sound in Washington. Center- 
ing along the Cascade barrier, an 
era of terrific violence shakes 
the very foundation of the North- 
west. Elevations and contours 
are changed. New lake beds are 
created. Watersheds and stream 
courses are remodeled. Dry 
"coulees" are left where formerly 



Multnomah Falls in Summer and Winter. 
This fascinating cascade, the most famous 
in the Northwest, falls 720 feet into a basin, 
and then 130 feet to the bank of the 
Columbia below. 

rivers flowed. Strata are up- 
tilted and riven, to be cross-sec- 
tioned again by the new rivers 
as they cut new canyons in drain- 
ing the new lakes. Most im- 
portant of all, outflows of melted 
rock, pouring from fissures in the 
changing earth-folds, spread vast 



HOTOS COPYRIGHT, KISER 



28 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



sheets of basalt, trap and andesite over most of the interior. Innumerable 
craters build cones of lava and scoriae along the Cascade uptilt, and scatter 
clouds of volcanic ashes upon the steady sea winds, to blanket the country 
for hundreds of miles with deep layers of future soil. 

A reign of ice follows the era of tropic heat. Stupendous glaciers grind 
the volcanic rocks, and carving new valleys, endow them with fertility for 
new forests that will rise where once the palm forests stood. With advancing 
age, the earth grows cold and quiet, awakening only to an occasional volcanic 
eruption or earthquake as a reminder of former violence. The dawn of history 
approaches. The country slowly takes on its present shape. Landscape 




View from the cliffs at Multnomah Falls (seen on right). Castle Rock is in distance on north side. 

changes are henceforth the work of milder forces, erosion by streams and 
remnant glaciers. Man appears. 

Throughout the cycles of convulsion and revolution which we have wit- 
nessed from our eyrie in the clouds, the vital and increasing influence in the 
building of the Northwest has been the Cascade upfold. First, it merely shuts 
in a piece of the Pacific. Rising higher, its condensation of the moist ocean 
wind feeds the thousand streams that convert the inland seas thus enclosed 
from salt to fresh water, and furnish the silt deposited over their floors. The 
fractures and faults resulting from its uptilting spread an empire with some of 
the largest lava flows in geological history. It pushes its snow-covered volcanoes 



30 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




The Columbia, opposite Oneonta Bluffs and Gorge, and Horsetail Falls. 

upward, to scatter ashes far to the east. Finally, its increasing height 
converts a realm of tropical verdure into semi-arid land, which only its 

rivers, impounded by man, will again make fertile. 
In all this great continental barrier, through- 
out the changes which we have witnessed, there 
has been only one sea-level pass. For nearly a 
thousand miles northward from the Gulf of 
California, the single outlet for the waters of the 
interior is the remarkable canyon which we first 
saw from the distant roof of Cloud Cap Inn. 
Here the Columbia, greatest of Western rivers, 
has cut its way through ranges rising more than 
4,000 feet on either hand. This erosion, let us 
remember, has been continuous and gradual, 
rather than the work of any single epoch. It 
doubtless began when the Cascade Mountains 
were in their infancy, a gap in the prolonged but 
low sea-dike. The drainage, first of the vast salt 
lake shut off from the ocean, and then of the 
succeeding fresh-water lakes, has preserved this 
channel to the sea, cutting it deeper and deeper 
as the earth-folds rose higher, until at last the 
canyon became one of the most important river 
gorges in the world. Thus nature prepared a vast 
and fruitful section of the continent for human 




iim. 



An original American — "Jake" 
Hunt, former Klickitat chief, 112 
years old. He is said to be the 
oldest Indian on the Columbia. 



32 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




'^^^^''k^^ 



use, and provided it 
with a worthy high- 
way to the ocean. 

Over this beau- 
tiful region we may 
descry yet another 
dawn, the beginnings 
of the Northwestern 
world according to 
Indian legend. The 
Columbia River In- 
dian, like his brothers 
in other parts of the 
country, was curious 
about the origin of 
the things he beheld 
around him, and 
oppressed by things 
he could not see. 
The mysteries both 
of creation and 
of human destiny 
weighed heavily up- 
on his blindness; and 
his mind, pathet- 
ically groping in the 
dark, was ever seek- 
ing to penetrate the 
distant past and the 
dim future. So far 



Oneonta Gorge, south side of the Columbia, thirty-three 
miles east of Portland. 



as he had any relig- 
ion, it was connected 
with the symbols of power in nature, the forces which he saw at work 
about him. These forces were often terrible and ruinous, so his gods 
were as often his enemies as his benefactors. Feeling his powerlessness 
against their cunning, he borrowed a cue from the "animal people," Wate- 
tash, who used craft to circumvent the malevolent gods. 

These animal people, the Indian believed, had inhabited the world be- 
fore the time of the first grandfather, when the sun was as yet only a star, 
and the earth, too, had grown but little, and was only a small island. The 
chief of the animal people was Speelyei, the coyote, not the mightiest but 
the shrewdest of them all. Speelyei was the friend of "people". He had 
bidden people to appear, and they "came out." 

One of the most interesting attempts to account for the existence of the 
Red Man in the Northwest is the Okanogan legend that tells of an island 



THE RIVER 



33 




Looking up the Columbia, near Bonneville. The main channel of the river is on right 
of the shoal in foreground. 

far out at sea inhabited by a race of giant whites, whose chief was a tall 
and powerful woman, Scomalt. When her giants warred among themselves, 
Scomalt grew angry and drove all the fighters to the end of the island. 

Then she broke off the end of the 
island, and pushing with her foot 
sent it floating away over the sea. 
The new island drifted far. All the 
people on it died save one man and one 
woman. They caught a whale, and 
its blubber saved them from starving. 
At last they escaped from the island 
by making a canoe. In this they 
paddled many days. Then they 
came to the mainland, but it was 
small. It had not yet grown much. 
Here they landed. But while they 
had been in the canoe, the sun had 
turned them from white to red. All 
the Okanogans were their children. 
Hence they all are red. Many years 

Salmon trying to jump the Falls of the Willamette ^^^m UOW the wholc of the mainland 

at Oregon City. will bc cut loose from its foundations, 




36 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Fishwheel below the Cascades, with Table Mountain on north side of river. 

and become an island. It will float about on the sea. That will be the end of 
the world. 

To the aboriginal Americans in the Northwest the great river, "Wauna" 
in their vocabulary, was inevitably a subject of deep interest. It not only 
furnished them a highway, but it supplied them with food. Their most fascinat- 
ing myths are woven about its history. One of these told of the mighty struggle 
between Speelyei and Wishpoosh, the greedy king beaver, which resulted in 
breaking down the walls of the great lakes of the interior and creating a passage 
for their waters through the mountains. Thus the Indians accounted for the 
Columbia and its canyon. 

But first among the river myths must always be the Klickitat legend of 
the famous natural bridge, fabled to have stood where the Cascades of the 




Sunrise on the Columbia; view at 4 a. m. from top of Table Mountain. 



THE RIVER 



39 




Wind Mountain and remnant of submerged forest, above the Cascades, at low water. 

Columbia now are. This is one of the most beautiful legends connected with 
the source of fire, a problem of life in all the northern lands. Further, it 
tells the origin of the three snow-peaks that are the subject of this book. 

In the time of their remote grandfathers, said the Klickitats, Tyhee 
Saghalie, chief of the gods, had two sons. They made a trip together down 
the river to where The Dalles are now. The sons saw that the country was 
beautiful, and quarrelled as to its possession. Then Saghalie shot an arrow 
to the north and an arrow to the west. The sons were bidden to find the 
arrows, and settle 
where they had fallen . 
Thus one son settled 
in the fair country 
between the great 
river and the Yakima, 
and became the 
grandfather of the 
Klickitats. The 
other son settled in 
the Willamette valley 
and became the an- 
cestor of the large 
Multnomah tribe. To 

keep peace between steamboat entering Cascade Locks. 




THE RIVER 



41 




White Salmon River and its Gorge, south 
of Mount Adams. 

Loowit, lived on it. Loowit 
had charge of the only fire in 
the world. 

Loowit saw how miserable 
the tribes were without fire. 
Therefore she besought Sag- 
halie to permit her to give 
them fire. Saghalie granted 
her request. Thus a fire was 
kindled on the bridge. The 
Indians came there and ob- 
tained fire, which greatly im- 
proved their condition. Sag- 
halie was so much pleased 



the two tribes, Saghalie 
raised the great mountains 
that separate those regions. 
But there were not yet any 
snow-peaks. The great river 
also flowed very deep between 
the country of the Klickitats 
and the country of the Mult- 
nomahs. That the tribes 
might always be friendly, Sag- 
halie built a huge bridge of 
stone over the river. The 
Indians called it the tamahna- 
was bridge, or bridge of the 
gods. The great river flowed 
under it, and a witch-woman, 



42 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Looking down the Columbia Canyon from the cliffs at White Salmon, Washington. 

with Loowit's faithfulness that he promised the witch-woman anything she 
might ask. Loowit asked for youth and beauty. So SaghaUe transformed her 
into a beautiful maiden. 

Many chiefs fell in love with Loowit because of her beauty. But she paid 

heed to none till there 
came two other 
chiefs, Klickitat from 
the north, Wiyeast 
from the west. As 
she could not decide 
which of them to 
accept as her hus- 
band, they and their 
people went to war. 
Great distress came 
upon the people be- 
cause of this fighting. 
Saghalie grew angry 
at their evil doing, 
and determined to 
punish them. He 
broke down the ta- 
mahnawas bridge, 

An Oregon Trout Stream. and pUt LoOWit, 




THE RIVER 



43 




Looking up the Columbia from Hood River, Oregon. 

Wiyeast and Klickitat to death. But they had been beautiful in life, therefore 
Saghalie would have them beautiful in death. So he made of them the three 
famous snow-peaks. Wiyeast became the mountain which white men call 
Mount Hood; Klickitat be- 
came Mount Adams; Loowit 
was changed into Mount St. 
Helens. Always, said Sagha- 
lie, they should be clothed 
in garments of snow. 

Thus was the wonderful 
tamahnawas bridge destroy- 
ed, and the great river dam- 
med by the huge rocks that 
fell into it. That caused the 
Cascade rapids. Above the 
rapids, when the river is low, 
you can still see the forests 
that were buried when the 
bridge fell down and dammed 
the waters. 

This noteworthy myth, 
fit to rank with the folk-lore 
masterpieces of any primitive 
people, Greek or Gothic, is 

of course only a legend. The Hood River, fed by the glaciers of Mount Hood. 




44 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




A Late Winter Afternoon. View across the Columbia from White Salmon to the mouth of Hood River, 
showing the Hood River Valley with Mount Hood wrapped in clouds. 

Indian was not a geologist. True, we see the submerged forests to-day, at low 
water. But their slowly decaying trunks were killed, perhaps not much more 
than a century ago, by a rise in the river that was not caused by the fall of a 

natural bridge, but 
by a landslide from 
the mountains. 

There is a slow and 
glacier-like motion of 
the hillsides here 
which from time to 
time compels the rail- 
ways on either bank 
t o readjust their 
tracks. The rapids 
at the Cascades, with 
their fall of nearly 
forty feet, are doubt- 
less the result of com- 
paratively recent vol- 
canic action. Shaking 
down vast masses of 
rock, this dammed 




m. 



Memaloose Island, or Island of the Dead, last resting place of thousands 
of Indians. The lone monument is that of Maj. Victor Trevitt, a 
celebrated pioneer, who asked to be buried here among "honest men." 



46 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



the river, and caused it to overflow its wooded shores above. But to the 
traveler on a steamboat breasting the terrific current below the government 
locks, as he looks up to the towering heights on either side of the narrowed 
channel, the invention of poor Lo's untutored mind seems almost as easy to 
believe as the simpler explanation of the scientist. 

Remarkable as is this fire myth of the tamahnawas bridge, the legend 
inspired by the peculiarities of northwestern climate is no less beautiful. 
This climate differs materially, it is well known, from that of eastern America 
in the same latitude. The Japan Current warms the coast of Oregon and 
Washington just as the Gulf Stream warms the coast of Ireland. East of the 




"Grant Castle" and Palisades of the Columbia, on north side of the river below The Dalles. 

Cascade Mountains, the severe cold of a northern winter is tempered by the 
"Chinook" winds from the Pacific. A period of freezing weather is shortly 
followed by the melting of the snow upon the distant mountains; by night 
the warm Chinook sweeps up the Columbia canyon and across the passes, and 
in a few hours the mildness of spring covers the land. 

Such a phenomenon inevitably stirred the Indian to an attempt to in- 
terpret it. Like the ancients of other races, he personified the winds. The 
Yakima account of the struggle between the warm winds from the coast and 
the icy blasts out of the Northeast will bear comparison with the Homeric 



THE RIVER 



47 




The Dalles of the Columbia, lower channel, east of Dalles City. The river, crowded into a narrow flume, 
flows here at a speed often exceeding ten miles an hour. 

tale of Ulysses, buffeted by the breezes from the bag given him by the wind- 
god Aeolus. 

Five Chinook brothers, said the Yakima tradition, lived on the great river. 
They caused the warm winds to 
blow. Five other brothers lived at 
Walla Walla, the meeting place of 
the waters. They caused the cold 
winds. The grandparents of them 
all lived at Umatilla, home of the 
wind-blown sands. Always there was 
war between them. They swept over 
the country, destroying the forests, 
covering the rivers with ice, or melt- 
ing the snows and causing floods. 
The people suffered much because of 
their violence. 

Then Walla Walla brothers chal- 
lenged Chinook brothers to wrestle. 

Speelyei, the coyote god, should cabbage RocU, a huge freak of nature standing in 
. •' ' '' o 7 ^jjg open plain four miles north of The Dalles, 

judge the contest. He should cut Apparently, the lava core of a small extinct crater. 




48 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



off the heads of those who fell. 
The crafty Speelyei secretly ad- 
vised the grandparents of Chinook 
brothers that if they would throw 
oil on the ground, their sons would 
not fall. This they did. But 
Speelyei also told the grandparents 
of Walla Walla brothers that if they 
would throw ice on the ground, their 
sons would not fall. This they did. 
So the Chinook brothers were thrown 
one after another, and Speelyei cut 
off their heads, according to the bar- 
gain. So the five Chinook brothers 
were dead. 

But the oldest of them left an 
infant son. The child's mother 
brought him up to avenge the killing 
of his kinsmen. So the son grew 
very strong, until he could pull up 
great fir trees as if they were weeds. 
Then Walla Walla brothers chal- 
lenged Young Chinook to wrestle. 
Speelyei should judge the contest. 
He should cut off the heads of those 
who fell. Secretly Speelyei advised 
Young Chinook's grandparents to 
throw oil on the ground last. This 
they did. So Walla Walla brothers were thrown one after another by Young 
Chinook, until four of them had fallen. Only the youngest of them was 
left. His heart failed him, 
and he refused to wrestle. 
Speelyei pronounced this sen- 
tence upon him: "You shall 
live, but you shall no longer 
have power to freeze people." 
To Young Chinook, he said: 
"You must blow only lightly, 
and you must blow first upon 
the mountains, to warn peo- 
ple of your coming." 

The last dawn of all opens 
upon the white man's era. 
On the Columbia, recorded 

history is recent, but already The zig-zag river in winter, south side of Mount Hood. 




• II I ill iilMitlliii 



A True Fish Story of the Columbia, where four 
and even flve-foot salmon are not uncommon. 




50 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




epic. Its story is outside the purpose 
of this volume. But it is worth while, 
in closing our brief glance at the field, 
to note that this story has been true 
to its setting. Rich in heroism and 
romance, it is perhaps the most typical, 
as it is the latest, chapter in the 
development of the West. For this 
land of the river, its quarter-million 
square miles stretching far northward 
to Canada, and far eastward to the 
Yellowstone, built about with colossal 
mountains, laced with splendid water- 
ways, jeweled with beautiful lakes, 
where upheaval and eruption, earth- 
quake and glacier have prepared a home 
for a great and happy population, has 
already been the scene of a drama of 
curious political contradictions and 
remarkable popular achievement. 

The Columbia River basin, alone 
of all the territories which the United 
States has added to its original area, 
was neither bought with money nor 
annexed by war. Its acquisition was 
a triumph of the American pioneer. 
Many nations looked with longing to this Northwest, but it fell a prize 
to the nation that neglected it. Spain and Russia wished to own it. Great 



The "Witch's Head," an Indian picture rock at 
the old native village of Wishram, north 
side of the Columbia near Celilo Falls. The 
Indians believe that if an unfaithful wife 
passes this rock, its eyes follow her with 
mute accusation. 




Village of Indian Tepees, Umatilla Reservation, near Pendleton, Oregon. Many of these Indians are 
rich landowners, but they prefer tents to houses. 



THE RIVER 



51 




Mount Adams, seen from Eagle Peak in the Rainier National Park. View shows some of the largest earth- 
folds in the Cascade Range, with the great canyon of the Cowlitz, one of the tributaries of the Columbia 
River. Elevation of camera 6,000 feet. 

Britain claimed and practically held it. The United States ignored it. For 
nearly half a century after the discovery of the river by a Yankee ship captain, 
Robert Gray, in 1792, and its exploration by Jefferson's expedition under 
Lewis and Clark, in 1805, its ownership was in question. For several 
decades after an American mer- 
chant, John Jacob Astor, had estab- 
lished the first unsuccessful trading 
post, in 1811, the country was ac- 
tually ruled by the British through 
a private corporation. The magic 
circle drawn about it by the 
Hudson's Bay Company seemed 
impenetrable. Held nominally by 
the American and British govern- 
ments in joint occupancy, it was in 
fact left to the halfbreed servants 
of a foreign monoply that sought 
to hold an empire for its fur trade, 
and to exclude settlers because 
their farms would interfere with its 
beaver traps. Congress deemed the 
region worthless. 

But while sleepy diplomacy . , . . ^ , „ t, ^ r o ^ 

A clearing in the forest. Mount Hood from Sandy, 
played its game of chess between twenty-eve mlles west of the peak. 





A'-^ 


1 " 


' .,1.;;^ ■«» ■ 








,-,-v---s^~^.^" 



52 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



Washington and London, the 
issue was joined, the title 
cleared and possession taken 
by a breed of men to whom 
the United States owes more 
than it can ever pay. From 
far east came the thin van- 
guard of civilization which, for 
a century after the old French 
and Indian war, pushed our 
boundaries resistlessly west- 
ward. It had seized the "dark 
and bloody ground" of Ken- 
tucky. It had held the Ohio 
valley for the young republic 
during the Revolution. It had 
built states from the Alleghan- 
ies to the Mississippi. And 
now, dragging its wagons 
across the plains and mount- 
ains, it burst, sun -browned 
and half -starved, into Oregon. 
Missionaries and traders, far- 
mers, politicians and specu- 
lators, it was part of that 
army of restless spirits who, 
always seeing visions of more fertile lands and rising cities beyond, stayed and 
long in no place, until at last they found their way barred by the Pacific, and 
therefore stayed to build the commonwealths of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. 
The arena of their peaceful contest was worthy of their daring. " 'A land 
of old upheaven from the abyss,' a land of deepest deeps and highest heights, 
of richest verdure 
here, and barest des- 
olation there, of dense 
forest on one side, and 
wide extended prai- 
ries on the other; a 
land of contrasts, 
contrasts in contour, 
hues, productions, 
and history," — thus 
Professor Lyman 
describes the stage 

^ Finished portion of Canal at Celilo, which the Government is building 

found set for them. around Tumwater Falls and The Dalles. 




An Indian Madonna and Child. Umatilla Reservation. 





lA. 3 



54 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Tumwater, the falls of the Columbia at Celilo; total drop, twenty feet at low water. In Summer, 
when the snow on the Bitter Root and Rocky Mountains is melting, the river rises often more than 
sixty feet. Steamboats have then passed safely down. Wishram, an ancient Indian fishing village, 
was on the north bank below the falls, and Indians may often still be seen spearing salmon from the 
shores and islands here. 

The tremendous problems of its development, due to its topography, its re- 
moteness, its magnificent distances, and its lack of transportation, demanded 
men of sturdiest fiber and intrepid leading. No pages of our history tell 
a finer story of action and initiative than those which enroll the names of 
McLoughlin, the great Company's autocratic governor, not unfitly called 
"the father of Oregon," and Whitman, the martyr, with the frontier leaders 
who fashioned the first ship of state launched in the Northwest, and their 
contemporaries, the men who built the first towns, roads, schools, mills, 
steamboats and railways. 

Macaulay tells us that a people who are not proud of their forebears 
will never deserve the pride of their descendents. The makers of Old Oregon 
included as fair a proportion of patriots and heroes as the immigrants of the 
Mayflower. We who journey up or down the Columbia in a luxurious 
steamer, or ride in a train de luxe along its banks, are the heirs of their 
achievement. Honor to the dirt-tanned ox-drivers who seized for them- 
selves and us this empire of the river and its guardian snow-peaks! 

A lordly river, broad and deep, 
With mountains for its neighbors, and in view 
Of distant mountains and their snowy tops. 




Columbia River and Mt. Hood, seen from White Salmon, Washington. 



"Beloved mountain, 1 
Thy worshiper, as thou the sun's, each morn 

My dawn, before the dawn, receive from thee; 
And think, as thy rose-tinted peak I see. 

That thou wert great when Homer was not born. 
And ere thou change all human song shall die." — Helen Hum Jackson 




North side of Mount Hood, from ridge several miles west of Cloud Cap Inn. View shows gorges cut by the 
glacier-fed streams. Cooper Spur is on left sky line. Barrel Spur is the great ridge on right, with 
Ladd glacier canyon beyond. Coe glacier is in center. 



II. 



THE MOUNTAINS. 



Silent and calm, have you e'er scaled the height 
Of some lone mountain peak, in heaven's sight? 

— Victor Hugo. 

There stood Mount Hood in all the glory of the alpen glow, looming immensely high, 
beaming with intelligence. It seemed neither near nor far. * * * The whole mountain 
appeared as one glorious manifestation of divine power, enthusiastic and benevolent, glowing 
like a countenance with ineffable repose and beauty, before which we could only gaze with 
devout and lowly admiration. — John Muir. 



F 



ROM the heights which back the city of Portland on the west, one may 
have a view that is justly famous among the fairest prospects in America. 
Below him lies the 



restless city, busy with 
its commerce. Winding 
up from the south comes 
the Willamette, its fine 
valley narrowed here by 
the hills, where the river 
forms Portland's harbor, 
and is lined on either side 
with mills and shipping. 
Ten miles beyond, the 
Columbia flows down 
from its canyon on the 
east, and turns north- 




winter on Mount Hood. The roof of the club house of the Portland 
Snow-shoe Club is seen over the ridge. 



58 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 





CLOooJcho 

INMq 






Watching the climbers from the plaza at Cloud Cap Inn, northeast side of Mount Hood. Immediately in 
front, Eliot glacier is seen, dropping into its canyon on the right. On the left is Cooper Spur, from 
which a sharp ascent leads to the summit of the peak. 

ward, an expanding waterway for great vessels, to its broad pass through the 
Coast Range. In every direction, city and country, farm and forest, valley 
and mountain, stretches a noble perspective. From the wide rivers and 
their shining borders, almost at sea level, the scene arises, terrace upon ter- 
race, to the encircling hills, and spreads across range after range to the 

summits of the great Cascades. 

Dominating all are the snow-peaks, 
august sentinels upon the horizon. On a 
clear day, the long line of them begins far 
down in central Oregon, and numbers six 
snowy domes. But any average day in- 
cludes in its glory the three nearest, Hood, 
Adams, and St. Helens. Spirit-like, they 
loom above the soft Oregon haze, their 
glaciers signaling from peak to peak, and 
their shining summits bidding the sordid 
world below to look upward. 

Nature has painted canvases more 

colorful, but none more perfect in its 

strength and rest. Here is no flare of the 

desert, none of the flamboyant, terrible 

Mount Hood, elevation 11,225 feet beauty of the Grand Canyon. It is a land 



'S^--^ ; ':>-',. O/ac/e/r^ 




THE MOUNTAINS 



59 




Lower end of Eliot glacier, seen from Cooper Spur, and showing the lateral moraines which this receding 

glacier has built in recent years. 

of warm ocean winds and cherishing sunshine, where the emeralds and jades 
of the valleys quickly give place to the bluer greens of evergreen forests that 
cover the hill country; and these, in turn, as distance grows, shade into the 
lavenders and grays of the successive ranges. The white peaks complete the 
picture with its most characteristic note. They give it distinction. 

Such a panorama justifies Ruskin's bold assertion: "Mountains are the be- 
ginning and end of all natural scenery." Without its mountains, the view from 
Council Crest would be as uninteresting as that from any tower in any prairie 




Snout of Eliot glacier, its V-shaped ice front heavily covered with morainal debris. 



60 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



R-; 




Cone of Mount Hood, seen from Cooper Spur on 
northwest side. A popular route to the sum- 
mit leads along this ridge of volcanic scoriae 
and up the steep snow slope above. 



city. But all mountains are not alike. 
In beginning our journey to the three 
great snow-peaks which we have 
viewed from Portland heights, it is 
well to define, if we may, the special 
character of our Northwestern scene. 
We sometimes hear the Cascade 
district praised as "the American 
Switzerland." Such a comparison 
does injustice alike to our mountains 
and to the Alps. As a wild, magnifi- 
cent sea of ice-covered mountain tops, 
the Alps have no parallel in America. 
As a far-reaching system of splendid 
lofty ranges clothed in the green of 
dense forests and surmounted by 
towering, isolated summits of snowy 
volcanoes, the Cascades are wholly 
without their equal in Europe. This 
is the testimony of famous travelers 
and alpinists, among them Ambassa- 
dor Bryce, who has written of our 
Northwestern mountain scenery: 



We have nothing more beautiful in Switzer- 
land or Tyrol, in Norway or in the Pyrenees. 
The combination of ice scenery with woodland scenery of the grandest type is to be found 
nowhere in the Old World, unless it be in the Himalayas, and, so far as we know, nowhere 
else on the American continent. 

In his celebrated chapter of the "Modern Painters" which describes the 
sculpture of the mountains, Ruskin draws a picture of the Alps that at once 
sets them apart from 
the Cascades: 

The longer I stayed 
among the Alps, the more 
I was struck by their be- 
ing a vast plateau, upon 
which nearly all the high- 
est peaks stood like 
children set upon a table, 
removed far back from 
the edge, as if for fear of 
their falling. The most 
majestic scenes are pro- 
duced by one of the great 
peaks having apparently 
walked to the edge of the 
table to look over, and 

thus showing itself sud- Cloud Cap inn, north side of Mount Hood. Elevation 5,900 feet. 




62 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Ice cascade on Eliot glacier. Mount Hood. 

denly above the valley in its full height. But the raised table is always intelligibly in ex- 
istence, even in these exceptional cases; and for the most part, the great peaks are not 
allowed to come to the edge of it, but remain far withdrawn, surrounded by comparatively 
level fields of mountain, over which the lapping sheets of glacier writhe and flow. The result 
is the division of Switzerland into an upper and lower mountain world ; the lower world 
consisting of rich valleys, the upper world, reached after the first steep banks of 3,000 to 
4,000 feet have been surmounted, consisting of comparatively level but most desolate 

tracts, half covered by glacier, and stretching to the feet 

of the true pinnacles of the chain. 

Nothing of this in the Cascades! Instead, we 
have fold upon fold of the earth-crust, separated 
by valleys of great depth. The ranges rise from 
levels but little above the sea. For example, be- 
tween Portland and Umatilla, although they are 
separated by the mountains of greatest actual 
elevation in the United States, there is a difference 
of less than two hundred and fifty feet, Umatilla, 
east of the Cascades, being only two hundred and 
ninety-four feet above tide. Trout Lake, lying 
below Mount Adams, at the head of one of the 
great intermountain valleys, has an elevation of 
less than two thousand feet. 
„ , . ^. u r^. w w Thus, instead of the Northwestern snow-peaks 

Portland Snow-shoe Club members 

on Eliot glacier in winter. belug Set far back upon a general upland and hid- 




THE MOUNTAINS 



63 




Snow-bridge over great crevasse, near head of Eliot glacier. 

den away behind lesser mountains, to be seen only after one has reached the 
plateau, thousands of feet above sea level, they actually rise either from com- 
paratively low peneplanes on one side of the Cascades, as in the case of St. 
Helens, or from the summit of one of the narrow, lofty ridges, as do Hood 
and Adams. But in either case, the full elevation is seen near at hand and 
from many directions — an elevation, therefore, greater and more impressive 
than that of most of the celebrated Alpine summits. 

Famous as is the valley of Chamonix, and noteworthy as are the glaciers 
to which it gives close access, its views of Mont Blanc are disappointing. Not 
until the visitor has 
scaled one of the 
neighboring aiguilles, 
can he command a 
satisfactory outlook 
toward the Monarch 
of the Alps. And no- 
where in Switzerland 
do I recall a picture 
of such memorable 
splendor as greets the 
traveler from the 
Columbia, journeying 
either southward, up ^ .. ^ ^ , ,^ , ^^ » « ^ k """'"=""_= " 

' '^ Coasting down east side of Mount Hood, above Cooper Spur, 

the Hood River Val- Mount Adams in distance. 




n 




66 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



ley toward Mount Hood, or northward, 
up the White Salmon Valley toward 
Trout Lake and Mount Adams. Here 
is unrolled a wealth of fertile lowlands, 
surrounded by lofty ranges made 
beautiful by their deep forests and 
rising to grandeur in their snow-peaks. 
Leaving the canyon of the Colum- 
bia, in either direction the road follows 
swift torrents of white glacial water 
that tell of a source far above. It 
crosses a famous valley, among its 
orchards and hayfields, but always in 
of the snow-covered volcanoes that rise 




Butterfly on the summit of Mount Hood. 

view of the dark blue mountains and 
before and behind, their glaciers shining 
like polished steel in the sun- 
light. So the visitor reaches the 
foot of his mountain. Losing 
sight of it for a time, he follows 
long avenues of stately trees as 




Members of Portland Snow-shoe Club 
on way to Mount Hood in winter, 
and at their club house, near Cloud 
Cap Inn. 

he climbs the benches. In a few 
hours he stands upon a barren 
shoulder of the peak, at timber 
glaciers reach their icy arms to 
the winds that sweep down from 




■ ^ %\ • - «• 






4'v,^''^. 

%/^-e.^ 



■*%f^: -< --^ 



Fumarole, or gas vent, near Crater Rock. 



line. A new world confronts him. The 
him from the summit, and he breathes 
their fields of perennial snow. 

It is all very different from 
Switzerland, this quick ascent from 
bending orchards and forested hills to 
a mighty peak standing white and 
beautiful in its loneliness. But it is so 
wonderful that Americans who love 
the heights can no longer neglect it, 
and each year increasing numbers are 
discovering that here in the North- 
west is mountain scenery worth travel- 
ing far to see, with very noble moun- 



THE MOUNTAINS 



67 




Looking across the head of Eliot glacier from near the summit of Mount Hood. 

tains to climb, true glaciers to explore, and the widest views of grandeur and 
interest to enjoy. Such sport combines recreation and inspiration. 

The traveler from Portland to either Mount Hood or Mount Adams may- 
go by rail or steamer to Hood River, Oregon, or White Salmon, Washington. 
These towns are on opposite banks of the Columbia at its point of greatest 
beauty. Thence he 
will journey by auto- 
mobile or stage up the 
corresponding valley 
to the snow-peak at 
its head. If he is 
bound for Mount 
Hood his thirty-mile 
ride will bring him to 
a charming mountain 
hotel, Cloud Cap Inn, 
placed six thousand 
feet above the sea, on 
a ridge overlooking 
Eliot glacier, Hood's 
finest ice stream. 

If Mount Adams 
be his destination, a 
ride of similar length 
from White Salmon ,, „ ^ 

•n u • !-• 1 Mount Hood at night, seen from Cloud Cap Inn. This view is from 

Will brmg him merely negative exposed from nine o'clock until midnight. 




68 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



to the foot of the mountain. The stages run only to Guler, on Trout Lake, and 
to Glen wood. Each of these villages has a comfortable country hotel which may 
be made the base for fishing and hunting in the neighborhood. Each is about 
twelve miles from the snow-line. At either place, guides, horses and supplies 
may be had for the trip to the mountain. Glen wood is nearer to the famous 
Hellroaring Canyon and the glaciers of the southeast side. Guler is a favorite 
point of departure for the south slope and for the usual route to the summit. 
Another popular starting point for Mount Adams is Goldendale, reached 
by a branch of the North Bank railway from Lyle on the Columbia. This 
route also leads to the fine park district on the southeastern slope, and it has 
a special attraction, as it skirts the remarkable canyon of the Klickitat River. 
Many parties also 
journey to the moun- aB^?^^*' 
tain from North 
Yakima and other- 
towns on the North- 
ern Pacific railway. 
Hitherto, all such 
travel from either 






S^^^3^^_ 




•I 



Climbing Mount Hood, with 
ropes ancltored on tlie 
summit and extending 
down on east and south 
faces of the peak. 

north or south has 
meant a trip on foot 
or horseback over in- 
teresting mountain 
trails, and has involved the necessity of packing in camp equipment and sup- 
plies. During the present summer, a hotel is to be erected a short distance 
from the end of Mazama glacier, at an altitude of about sixty-five hundred 
feet, overlooking Hellroaring Canyon on one side, and on the other a delight- 
ful region of mountain tarns, waterfalls and alpine flower meadows. Its 
verandas will command the Mazama and Klickitat glaciers, and an easy 
route will lead to the summit. With practicable roads from Goldendale and 
Glenwood, it should draw hosts of lovers of scenery and climbing, and aid 
in making this great mountain as well known as it deserves to be. 

Visitors going to Mount Hood from Portland have choice of a second very 
attractive hotel base in Government Camp, on the south slope at an altitude 
of thirty-nine hundred feet. This is reached by automobiles from the city, 







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70 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Looking west on summit of Mount Hood, with Mazama Rocli below. 

over a fair road that will soon be a good road, thanks to the Portland Auto- 
mobile Club. The mountain portion of this highway is the historic Barlow 
road, opened in 1845, the first wagon road constructed across the Cascades. 
As the motor climbs out of the Sandy River valley, and grapples the steep 
moraines built by ancient icefields, the traveler gets a very feeling reminder 
of the pluck of Captain Barlow and his company of Oregon "immigrants" in 
forcing a way across these rugged heights. But the beauty of the trip makes 
it well worth while, and Government Camp gives access to a side of the peak 
that should be visited by all who would know how the sun can shatter a big 
mountain with his 
mighty tools of ice. 
The hotel here 
was erected in 1900 
by 0. C. Yocum, 
under whose com- 
petent guidance 
many hundreds of 
climbers reached the 
summit of Mount 
Hood. The Hotel 
is now owned by 
Elisha Coalman, who 
has also succeeded to 




* A '!^"y#^l^A, 



Summit of Mount Hood, from Mazama Roclc, showing the sun-cupped 
ice of midsummer. 



72 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



his predecessor's office as guide. During the last year he has enlarged his inn, 
and he is now also building comfortable quarters for climbers at a camp four 
miles nearer the snow line, on the ridge separating White River glacier from 
Zigzag glacier. 

MOUNT HOOD. 

Mount Hood is the highest mountain in Oregon, and because of a general 
symmetry in its pyramidal shape and its clear-cut, far-seen features of rock and 
glacier, it has long been recognized as one of the most beautiful of all American 
snow peaks. Rising from the crest of the Cascades, it presents its different 
profiles and variously 
sculptured faces to the en- 
tire valley of the Colum- 
bia, east and west, above 
which it towers in stately 
magnificence, a very king 
of the mountains, ruling 
over a domain of ranges. 




Crevasses on Coe glacier. 

valleys and cities proud 
of their allegiance. 

On October 20, 1792, 
Lieutenant Broughton, of 
Vancouver's exploring ex- 
pedition in quest of new 
Majesty George III., discovered from the Columbia 
the Willamette, "a very distant high snowy mountain, 
rising beautifully conspicuous," which he strangely mistook to be the source 
of the great river. Forthwith he named it in honor of Rear Admiral Samuel 
Hood, of the British Admiralty who had distinguished himself in divers naval 
battles during the American and French Revolutions. 

The mountain has been climbed more often than any other American 
snow-peak. The first ascent was made on August 4, 1854, from the south 
side, by a party under Captain Barlow, builder of the "immigrant road." 
One of the climbers. Editor Dryer of The Oregonian, published an account 



territories for His 
near the mouth of 










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THE MOUNTAINS 



75 




of the trip in which, 

with more exactness 

than accuracy, he 

placed the height of 

the mountain at 

18,361 feet! The most 

notable ascent by a 

large party took place 

forty years later, 

when nearly two hun- 
dred men and women 

met on the summit, 

and there, with par- 
liamentary dispatch 

bred of a bitter wind, 

organized a mountain 

club which has since 

become famous. For 

its title they took the 

name "mazama," 

Mexican for the 

mountain goat, close 

kin to the Alpine 

chamois. Member- 
ship was opened to those who have scaled a snow-peak on foot. By their 

publications and their annual climbs, the Mazamas have done more than 

any other agency to promote interest in our Northwestern mountains. 

Mount Hood stands, as I have said, upon the summit of the Cascades, 

The broad and comparatively level back of the range is here about four 

thousand feet above 
the sea. Upon this 
plane the volcano 
erected its cone, 
chiefly by the ex- 
pulsion of scoriae 
rather than by ex- 
tensive lava flows, to 
a farther height of 
nearly a mile and a 
half. There is no 
reason to suppose 
that it ever greatly 
exceeded its present 

Ice Cascade, south side of Mount Hood, near head of White River glacier. altitude, Which gOV- 



Mount Hood, seen from the top of Barrett Spur. On the left, cascading 
down from the summit, is Coe glacier; on the right, Ladd glacier. 
The high cliff separating them is "Pulpit Rock." 




76 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Little Sandy or Reid glacier, west side of Mount Hood 



ernment observations 
have fixed at 11,225 
feet. Its diameter at 
its base is approxi- 
mately seven miles 
from east to west. 

Compared with 
Mount Adams, its 
broken and decapi- 
f^^i '■/.4 tated northern neigh- 
bor. Mount Hood, 
although probably 
dating from Miocene 
time, is still young 
enough to have re- 
tained in a remark- 
able degree the gen- 
eral shape of its 
original cone. But 
as we approach it from any direction, we find abundant proof that power- 
ful destructive agents have been busy during the later geological ages. 
Already the summit plateau upon which the peak was built up has been 
largely dissected by the glaciers and their streams. The whole neighborhood 
of the mountain is a vastly rugged district of glacial canyons and eroded 
water channels, trenched deep in the soft volcanic ashes and the underlying 
ancient rock of the range. The mountain itself, although still a pyramid, also 
has its story of age and loss. Its eight glaciers have cut away much of its 
mass. On three sides they have burrowed so deeply into the cone that its 
original angle, which surviving ridges show to have been about thirty degrees, 
hasontheupper^ 
glacial slopes been 
doubled. This is well 
illustrated by the views 
shown on pages 58, 61, 
69 and 71. 

This cutting back 
into the mountain has 
greatly lessened the 
area of the upper 
snow-fields. The reser- 
voirs feeding the 
glaciers, are there- 
fore much smaller „.,,,„ ^ . ^ . ^ .. , 

Portland Y. M. C. A. party starting for the summit at daybreak, 
than of old, but, by south side of Mount Hood. 





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78 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




South side of Mount Hood, seen from crag on Tom-Dick-and-Harry Ridge, five miles from the snow-line. 
A thousand feet below is the hotel called "Government Camp," with the Barlow road, the first 
across the Cascades. On left are Zigzag and Sand canyons, cut by streams from Zigzag glacier above. 

way of compensation, present a series of most interesting ice formations 
on the steeper slopes. In this respect, Mount Hood is especially note- 
worthy among our Northwestern snow-peaks. While larger glaciers are 
found on other mountains, none are more typical. The glaciers of Hood 
especially repay study because of their wonderful variety of ice-falls, terraces, 
seracs, towers, castles, pinnacles and crevasses. Winter has fashioned a 

colossal architecture of wild forms. 

T Ye ice-falls! ye that from the mountain's brow 

Adown enormous ravines slope amain, — 
Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty voice. 
And stopped at once amid their maddest plunge! 
Motionless torrents! silent cataracts! 

The visitor who begins his acquaintance 
with Mount Hood on the north side has, from 
Cloud Cap Inn, four interesting glaciers within 
a radius of a few miles. Immediately before the 
Inn, Eliot glacier displays its entire length of 
two miles, its snout being only a few rods away. 
West of this, Coe and Ladd glaciers divide the 
north face with the Eliot. All three have 
their source in neighboring reservoirs near the 
Crag on which above view was taken, summit, which have bceu greatly reduced 




THE MOUNTAINS 



79 






Part of the "bergschrund" above Crater Rock. A bergschrund is a 
crevasse of which the lower side lies much below its upper side. It 
is caused by a sharp fall in the slope, or by the ice at the head of a 
glacier pulling away from the packed snow above. 



in area. This, with 
the resulting shrink- 
age in the glaciers, 
is shown by the high 
lateral moraines left 
as the width of the 
ice streams has less- 
ened. On the east 
slope is a fine cliff 
glacier, the Newton 
Clark, separated from 
the Eliot by Cooper 
Spur, a long ridge 
that furnishes the 
only feasible north- 
side route for climb- 
ers to the summit. 

Climbing Cooper 
Spur is a tedious 
struggle up a long 
cinder slope, but it 
has its reward in fine views of the near-by glaciers and a wide outlook over 
the surrounding country. A tramp of three miles from the Inn covers the easier 
grade, and brings the climber to a height of eight thousand feet. A narrow, 
snow-covered chine now offers a windy path to the foot of the steeper slope 
(See p. 60). The climb ends with the conquest of a half-mile of vertical eleva- 
tion over a grade that tests muscle, wind and nerve. This is real mountaineer- 
ing, and as the novice clutches the rocks, or carefully follows in the steps cut 

by the guide, he re- 
calls a command well 
adapted to such try- 
ing situations: 
"Prove all things; 
hold fast that which 
is good." But the 
danger is more ap- 
parent than real, and 
the goal is soon 
reached. 

The south-side 
route, followed by 
the Barlow party of 
1854, was long 
D * XT E" .J- .. n .^ J .„-,•..<..• .- -J deemed the only 

Prof. Harry Fielding Reid and party exploring Zigzag glacier, south side _ _ ^ 

of Mount Hood. Illumination Rock is seen beyond. practicable trail tO 




8'0 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



the summit. Many years later, William A. Langille discovered the route up 
from Cooper Spur. The only accident charged against this path befell a stranger 
who was killed in trying to climb it without a guide. Its steepness is, indeed, 
an advantage, as it requires less time than the other route. Climbers frequently 
ascend by one trail and descend by the other, thus making the trip between 
Cloud Cap Inn and Government Camp in a day. 

The actual summit of Mount Hood is a narrow but fairly level platform, 
a quarter of a mile long, which is quickly seen to be part of the rim of the ancient 
crater. Below it, on the north, are the heads of three glaciers already men- 
tioned, the Eliot, Coe and Ladd; and looking down upon them, the climber 
perceives that here the mountain has been so much cut away as to be less a 
slope than a series 
of precipices, with 
very limited benches 
which serve as gather- 
ing grounds of snow. 
(See pp. 55, 67 and 
70.) These shelves 
feed the lower ice- 




Mazamas climbing the"Hog- 
back , " above Crater Rock , 
and passing this rock on 
the descent. 

streams with a diet of 
avalanches that is 
year by year becom- 
ing less bountiful as 
this front becomes 
more steep. Soon, indeed, geologically speaking, the present summit, undermined 
by the ice, must fall, and the mountain take on a new aspect, with a lower, 
broader top. Thus while the beautiful verse which I have quoted under the 
view of Mount Hood from White Salmon (p. 56) is admirable poetry, its last line 
is very poor geology. This, however, need not deter any present-day climbers! 
On the south side of the summit ridge a vastly different scene is presented. 
Looking down over its easy slope, one recognizes even more clearly than from 
the north-side view that Mount Hood is merely a wreck of its former graceful 
cone, a torn and disintegrating remnant, with very modest pretentions to sym- 
metry, after all, but still a fascinating exhibit of the work of such Gargantuan 
forces as hew and whittle such peaks. 



THE MOUNTAINS 



81 



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Portland Ski Club on south side of Mount Hood, above GoTernment Camp. 



The crater had a diameter of about half a mile. Its north rim remains in 
the ridge on which our climber stands. All the rest of its circumference has 
been torn away, but huge fragments of its wall are seen far below, on the right 
and left, in "cleavers" named respectively Illumination Rock and Steel's Cliff. 
One of these recalls several displays of red fire on the mountain by the Maza- 
mas. The other great abutment was christened in honor of the first president 
of that organization. 

Apart from these ridges, the entire rim is missing; but below the spectator, 
at what must have been the center of its circle, towers a great cone of lava, 
harder than the andesitic rocks and the scoriae which compose the bulk of the 
mountain. This is known as Crater Rock. It 
is the core of the crater, formed when the molten 
lava filling its neck cooled and hardened. Around 
it the softer mass has worn down to the general 
grade of the south slope, which extends five 
miles from just below the remaining north rim 
at the head of the glaciers to the neighborhood 
of Government Camp, far down on the Cascade 
plateau. The grade is much less than thirty 
degrees. Over the slope flow down two glaciers, 
the Zigzag on the west, and the White River 
glacier on the east, of Crater Rock. 

It is sometimes said that the south side of 
the old summit was blown away by a terrific 
explosion. That is improbable, in view of Crater Mount Hood lh 

Rock, which indicates a dormant volcano when (l. washingtonianum) 




82 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



the south side was destroyed. The mountain was doubtless rent by ice rather 
than by fire. The mass of ice and snow in and upon the crater broke apart 
the comparatively loose wall, and pushed its shattered tuffs and cinders far 
down the slopes. Forests were buried, old canyons were filled, and the whole 
southwest side of the mountain was covered with the fan-shaped outwash 
from the breach. Through this debris of the ancient crater the streams at the 
feet of the glaciers below are cutting vast ravines which can be seen from the 
heights above. (See 
illustrations, pp. 77-81.) 
The central situation 
of Mount Hood makes 
the view from its sum- 
mit especially worth 
seeking. From the Pa- 
cific to the Blue Moun- 
tains, south almost to 
the California line, and 
north as far, it embraces 





t. 



Mazama party exploring White 
River glacier. Mount Hood. 

an area equal to a great 
state, with four hund- 
red miles of the undu- 
lating Cascade summits 
and a dozen calm and 
radiant snow-peaks. The 
Columbia winds almost 
at its foot, and a multi- 
tude of lakes, dammed 
by glacial moraines and lava dikes, nestle in its shadow. This view "covers 
more history," as Lyman points out, than that from any other of our peaks. 
About its base the Indians hunted, fished and warred. Across its flank rolled 
the great tide of Oregon immigration, in the days of the ox-team and settler's 
wagon. It has seen the building of two states. It now looks benignly down 
upon the prosperous agriculture and growing cities of the modern Columbia 
basin, and no doubt contemplates with serenity the time v/hen its empire shall 



THE MOUNTAINS 



83 




Newton Clark glacier, east side of Mt. Hood, seen from Cooper Spur, with Mt. Jefferson fifty miles south. 

be one of the most populous as it is one of the most beautiful and fertile regions 
in America. No wonder the shapely mountain lifts its head with pride! 

Returning to the glaciers of the north side, we note that all three end at 
an altitude close to six thousand feet. None of them has cut a deep, broad 
bed for itself like the great radiating canyons which dissect the Rainier National 
Park and protect its glaciers down to a level averaging four thousand feet. 
Instead, these glaciers lie up on the side of Mount Hood, in shallow beds which 
they no longer fill; and are banked between double and even tripple border 
moraines, showing successive advances and retreats of the glaciers. (See illus- 
tration, top of p. 59.) The larger moraines stand fifty to a hundred feet 
above the present ice-streams, thus indicating the former glacier levels. No 
vegetation appears on these desolate rock and gravel dikes. The retreat of 
the glaciers was therefore comparatively recent. 




Looking from Mount Jefferson, along the summits of the Cascades, to Mount Hood. 



84 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Shadow of Mount Hood, seen from Newton Clark glacier shortly before sunset. View shows two branches 
of East Fork of Hood River, fed by the glacier, and the canyon of the East Fork, turning north. Beyond 
it (left) are Tygh Hills and wheat fields of the Dufur country. On the right is Juniper Flat, with 
the Deschutes canyon far beyond. 



Eliot glacier has 
ment of about fifty 
much greater. All 



been found by measurement near its end, to have a move- 
feet a year. On the steeper slope above, it is doubtless 
the three glaciers are heavily covered, for their last half 

mile, with rocks and 
dirt which they have 
freighted down from 
the cliffs above, or 
dug up from their 
own beds in transit. 
None of the lateral 
moraines extends 
more than two or 
three hundred yards 
below the snout of 
its glacier. Each gla- 
cier, at its end, drops 
its remnant of ice in- 
to a deep V-shaped 
ravine, in which, not 
far below, trees of 

of Newton Clark glacier. gOOd slzC are grOW- 





Mount Hood and Hood River, seen from a point twenty miles north of the mountain. 



86 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



ing. Hence it would not seem that 
these north-side glaciers have ever 
extended much farther than they do 
at present. The ravine below Eliot 
glacier, however, half a mile from 
the snout, is said to show glacial 
markings on its rocky sides. It is 
evident, in any case, that the deep 
V cuttings now found below the gla- 
ciers are work of the streams. If 
these glaciers extended farther, it 
was at higher levels than their pres- 
ent stream channels. As the glaciers 
receded, their streams have cut the 
deep gorges in the soft conglomerates. 
Between Eliot and Coe glaciers are 
large snow-fields, ending much farther 
C^jj up than do the glaciers ; and below 
these, too, the streams have trenched 
the slope (See illustration, p. 57.) 

Between Coe and Ladd glaciers 
is a high rocky ridge known as Bar- 
rett Spur, from which, at nearly 
8,000 feet, one may obtain glorious 
views of the peak above, the two 
glaciers sweeping down its steep face 
and the sea of ranges stretching westward. (See illustrations, pp. 69 and 75.) 
Barrett Spur may have been part of the original surface of the mountain, but 
is more likely the remnant of a secondary cone, ice and weathering having 
destroyed its conical shape. From its top, the climber looks over into the 
broad-bottomed canyon of 
Sandy River, fed by the large 
and small Sandy glaciers of 
the west slope. (See pp. 71 
and 76.) This canyon and 
that of the Zigzag River, 
south of it, from Zigzag gla- 
cier, are "plainly glacier-sculp- fig 
tured," as Sylvester declares. W' ~ - - 

The same is true of the can- _ . ^ - 

yon lying below the White - - ^ - _.^.: 

River glacier, on the south- ''— \ 

east slope. In journeying to ,, „ ^ 

"^ .' o Y. M. C. A. party from North Yakima at Red Butte, an ex- 

Government Camp, one may tinct volcano on north side of Mount Adams. 




Lava Flume near Trout Lake, about thirty feet 
wide and forty feet high. 




THE MOUNTAINS 



87 




Ice Cave in lava beds near Trout Lake. 



see abundant evidence of the glacial 
origin of the Sandy and Zigzag can- 
yons. The White River Canyon has 
been thoroughly explored and de- 
scribed by Prof. Reid. 

All three of these wide U-shaped 
canyons were once occupied by great 
glaciers, which left their record in the 
scorings upon the sides of the gorges; 
in the mesas of finely ground moraine 
which they spread over the bottoms 
and through which the modern rivers 
have cut deep ravines; in trees broken 
and buried by the glaciers in this drift; 
in the fossil ice lying beneath it, and 
in huge angular boulders left stand- 
ing on the valley floors, several miles 
from the mountain. 

Sandy glacier extends three hun- 
dred feet farther down the slope than 
do the north-side glaciers, but the 
Zigzag and White River glaciers, flowing out of the crater, end a thousand feet 
higher. This is due not only to the smaller reservoirs which feed them and 
to their southern exposure, but also doubtless to the easier grade, which holds 
the ice longer on the slope. On the east side of the peak is a broad ice-stream, 
the Newton Clark glacier, which also ends at a high altitude, dropping its ice 
over a cliff into deep ravines at the head of East Fork of Hood River. This 

glacier, well seen from Cooper 
Spur, completes the circuit of the 
mountain. (See pp. 83 and 84.) 

Sylvester suggests that Mount 
Hood may not be extinct but sleep- 
ing. For this, however, there is 
little more evidence that may be 
discovered on other Northwestern 
peaks. About Crater Rock, steam 
jets are found, gas escapes, and 
the rocks are warm in many places. 
"Fumaroles" exist, where the resi- 
duary heat causes openings in the 
snow bed. Sylvester reports dense 
smoke and steam issuing from Cra- 
ter Rock by day and a brilliant 
Mount Adams, elevation 12,307 feet. illuminatiou thcrc at night, in 




TT 

,--: vis's i ' , 







'^ cC 



Vi-"'S6UTH BUTTe 



f l/'ff/e Spring 




THE MOUNTAINS 



89 



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WR, 


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* • .... 



Mount Adams from Trout Creek, at Guler, near Trout Lake; distance twelve miles. 

August, 1907. But volcanoes sometimes contradict prophecy, and no further 
intimations of trouble having since been offered, this display may be deemed 
the last gasp of a dying monster rather than an awakening toward new life. 

MOUNT ADAMS. 

Going up the White Salmon Valley toward Mount Adams, the visitor quick- 
ly realizes that he 
is in a different geo- 
logical district from 
that around Mount 
Hood. The Oregon 
peak is mainly a pile 
of volcanic rocks 
and cinders ejected 
from its crater. Lit- 
tle hard basalt is 
found, and in all its 
circumference I 
know of only one 
large surface area of 

npw ]a\m TViiQ ic n Climbers on South Butte, the hard lava neck of a crater on south 'slope, 

left by weathering of the softer materials of its cone. Elevation, 
few miles north of 7,800 feet. The usual route to summit leads up the talus on right. 




90 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Dawn on Mount Adams, telephotographed from Guler, at 4 a. m., showing the three summit peaks, of 
which the middle one is the highest. The route of the climbers is up the south slope, seen on right. 

Cloud Cap, and so recent that no trees grow on it. But north of the Colum- 
bia, one meets evidences of comparatively recent lava sheets in many parts of 
the valley. Some obviously have no connection with Mount Adams; they 
flowed out of fissures on the ridges. But these beds of volcanic rock become 
more apparent, and are less covered with soil, as we approach the mountain, 
until, long before timber line is reached, dikes and streams of basalt, as yet 
hardly beginning to disintegrate, are found on all sides of the peak. 

The form and slope of Mount Adams tell of an age far greater than 
Mount Hood's, but its story is not, like that of Hood, the legible record of 
a simple volcanic cone. It wholly lacks the symmetry of such a pile. Viewed 

from a distance, it 
sits very majestically 
upon the summit of 
one of the eastern 
ranges of the Cascades. 
As we approach, how- 
ever, it is seen to 
have little of the con- 
ical shape of Hood, 
still less that of grace- 
ful St. Helens, which 
is young and as yet 
practically unbroken. 
Its summit has been 




Foraging in the snow. The Mount Adams country supports hundreds 
of large flocks of sheep. 



much worn down by 
ice or perhaps by 




COPYRrGHT, G M. WEISTER 

Steel's Cliff, southeast side of Mount Hood. In the distance is seen Juniper Flat, in eastern Oregon. 





Ice Castle and great Crevasse, near the head of EHot Glacier, Mt. Hood. 



"Touched by a light that hath no name, 

A glory never sung. 
Aloft on sky and mountain \A/all 

Are God's great pictures hung." — Whittier. 



THE MOUNTAINS 



93 




Mazamas climbing a 40" stairway of shattered basalt, north side of Mount Adams. 

explosions. Some of its sides are deeply indented, and all are vastly irregular in 
angle and markings — here a face now too steeply cut to hold a glacier, but 
showing old glacial scorings far down its slope; there another terraced and 
ribbed with waves and dikes of lava. The mountain is a long ridge rather than 
a round peak, and close inspection shows it to be a composite of several great 
cones, leaning one upon another, — the product of many craters acting in 
successive ages. On its ancient, scarred slopes, a hundred modem vents have 
added to the ruggedness and inter- 
est of the peak. Many of these 
blowholes built parasitic cones, from 
which the snows of later centuries 
have eroded the loose external mass, 
leaving only the hard lava cores 
upstanding like obelisks. Other 
vents belched out vast sheets of 
rock that will require a century 
more of weathering to make hos- 
pitable even to the sub-alpine trees 
most humble in their demands for soil. 
Mount Adams therefore presents 
a greater variety of history, a more 
complex and fascinating prob- 
lem for the student to unravel, than Mount Adams from one of the many lakes on its 
. .11 mi • • southeast slope. On ridge above, near the end 

any of its neighbors. This interest of Mazama glacier, a hotel is to be erected. 




94 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Climbers ascending from South Pealc to Middle Peak on Mount Adams, with the "bergschrund" above 
Klickitat glacier on right. This central dome is about 500 feet higher than South Peak. 

extends to the district about it, a country of new lava flows covering much of 
the older surface. The same conditions mark the region surrounding the 
newer peak, St. Helens, thirty miles west. In each district, sheets of 
molten rock have been poured across an ancient and heavily forested land. 
Thus as we travel up the rich valleys leading from the Columbia to either 
peak, we meet everywhere the phenomena of vulcanism. 

The lava sheet flowing around or over a standing or fallen tree took a per- 
fect impression of its trunk and bark. Thousands of these old tree casts 
are found near both Adams and St. Helens. Where the lava reached a water- 




Mount Adams, seen from Happy Valley, south side. Elevation about 7,000 feet. Mazama glacier is on right. 



THE MOUNTAINS 



95 





'^^I^^^^^^^^^HI 


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^^^--' 


"%s^"2^*'?W'^''*^^''*'#^ ..■"••* ; 




■■ %h 





Mount Adams, from Snow-Plow Mountain, three miles southeast of the snow line; elevation 5,070 feet, 
overlooking the broad "park" country west of Hellroaring Canyon. 

course, it flowed down in a deeper stream, — a river of liquid rock. Lava is 
a poor conductor of heat; hence the stream cooled more quickly on the sur- 
face than below. Soon a crust was formed, like the ice over a creek in winter. 
Under it the lava flowed on and out, as the flood stopped, leaving a gallery 
or flume. Later flows filled the great drain again and again, adding new 
strata to its roof, floor and 
sides, and lessening its bore. 
Long after the outflows 
ceased, weathering by heat 
and frost broke openings 
here and there. Many of the 
flumes were choked with drift. 
But others, in the newer 
lava beds, may be explored 
for miles. It was from the 
lava caves of northern Cal- 
ifornia that the Modoc In- 
dians waged their famous 
war in the Seventies. 

The disintegration of the 
lava galleries in the Mount 
Adams field has of course pro- 
duced caves of all sorts and 
sizes. Where one of these is 
closed at one end with de- 
bris, so that the summer air Wind-whlttled ice near the summit of Mount Adams. 






96 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



cannot circulate to displace the heavier cold remaining from winter, the cave, 
if it has a water supply, becomes an ice factory. The Trout Lake district 
has several interesting examples of such glacieres, as they have been named, 
where one may take refuge from July or August heat above ground, and, forty 
feet below, in a cave well protected from sun and summer breeze, find great 
masses of ice, with more perhaps still forming as water filters in from a sur- 
face lake or an underground spring. The Columbia River towns as far away 
as Portland and The Dalles formerly obtained ice from the Trout Lake caves, 
but at present they 
supply only some 
near-by farmers. 

Mount Adams 
is ascended with- 
out difficulty by 
either its north or 
south slope. On 
the east and west 




Mazama glacier, at head 
of Hellroaring Canyon. 
Upper view shows floor 
of canyon, a mile below 
the glacier, with the 
"Ridge of Wonders' ' on 
right. Lower view is 
from ridge west of the 
canyon, near end of 
Mazama glacier, eleva- 
tion nearly 7,000 feet. 
Note great lateral mo- 
raine which the glacier 
has built on left. 

faces, the cliffs and ice cascades appall even the expert alpinist. As yet, so 
far as I can learn, no ascents have been made over these slopes. The south- 
ern route is the more popular one. It leads by well-marked trails up from 
Guler or Glen wood, over a succession of terraces clad in fine, open forest; 
ascends McDonald Ridge, amid increasing barriers of lava; passes South 
Butte, a decaying pillar of red silhouetted against the black rocks and white 
snow-fields; crosses many a caldron of twisted and broken basalt, — "Devil's 
Half Acres" that once were the hot, vomiting mouths of drains from the 



THE MOUNTAINS 



97 




fiery heart of the peak; scales 

a giants' stairway tilted to 

to forty degrees, overlooking 

the west branch of Mazama 

glacier on one side and a small 

unnamed glacier on the other; 

and at last gains the broad 

shoulder which projects far 

on the south slope. (See 

illustrations, pp. 89 and 93.) 
Here, from a height of 

nine thousand feet, we look down on the low, wide reservoir of Mazama gla- 
cier on the east, and up to the ice-falls above Klickitat glacier on the higher 

slopes beyond. The great plat- 
form on which we stand was built 
up by a crater, three thousand feet 
below the summit. The climb to 
it has disclosed the fact that the 
mountain is composed mostly of 



Nearing the summit, south side. 




Upper Ice Cascade of Klickitat glacier. 

lava. Some of the ravine cuttings 

have shown lapilli and cinders, but 

these are rarer than on the other 

Northwestern peaks. The harder 

structure has resisted the erosion 

which is cutting so deeply into the lower slopes of Hood. On Mount Adams, 

not only do the glaciers, with one or two notable exceptions, lie up on the 

general surface of the mountain, banked by their moraines; but their streams 

have cut few deep ravines. 
From this point, the 
route becomes steeper, but 
is still over talus, until the 
first of the three summit ele- 
vations, known as South 
Peak, is reached. This is 
only five hundred feet below 
the actual summit. Middle 
Peak, which is gained by a 

An Upland "Park," west of Hellroaring Canyon. short, hard pull, generally 





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100 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



over snow. (See p. 94.) The north-side route is up a long, sharp ridge 
between Lava and Adams glaciers (p. 104). Like the other path, its grade 
is at first easy; but its last half mile of elevation is achieved over a slope 
even steeper, and ending in a longer climb over the snow. Neither route, how- 
ever, offers so hard a finish as that which ends the Mount Hood climb. From 
the timber-line on either side, the ascent requires six or seven hours. 

The summit ridge is nearly a 
mile long and two-thirds as wide. 
It is the gathering ground of the 
snows that feed Klickitat, Lyman, 




f 




Snow cornice above the bergschrund at head 
of Klickitat glacier, with another part of 
the same crevasse. 

Adams and White Salmon glaciers. 
(See map, p. 87.) Mazama, Rusk, 

Lava, Pinnacle and Avalanche glaciers lie beneath cliffs too steep to carry 
ice-streams. Their income is mainly collected from the slopes, and if they 
receive snow from the broad summit at all, it is chiefly in the avalanches of 
early summer. Nearly all the glaciers, however, are thus fed in part, the 
steep east and west faces making Mount Adams famous for its avalanches. 
From the summit on either side, the climber may look down sheer for 
half a mile to the reservoirs and great ice cascades of the glaciers below. It is 




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102 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



^SS.W:Z:\^. v" 





Mount Adams from Sunnyside, Washington, with irrigation "ditch" in foreground. 

seen that with the exception of the Rusk and Khckitat, which are deeply 
embedded in canyons, the glaciers spread out, fan-like, on the lower slopes, 
and are held up by their moraines. Most of them end at elevations consider- 
ably above six thousand five hundred feet. 
The difference in this respect between Adams 
and Hood is due, no doubt, to lighter rainfall. 
Of the two glaciers just mentioned the 
Klickitat is the larger and more typical. 
The Rusk, however, is of interest because it 
flows, greatly crevassed, down a narrow flume 
or couloir on the east slope. Its bed, Reid 
suggests, may have been the channel of "a. 
former lava flow, which, hardening on the 
surface, allowed the liquid lava inside to 
flow out; and later the top broke in." The 
Klickitat glacier lies in a much larger canyon, 
which it has evidently cut for itself. This 
is one of the most characteristic glacial 
amphitheaters in America, resembling, though 
on a smaller scale, the vast Carbon glacier 
cirque which is the crowning glory of the 
Rainier National Park. The Klickitat basin 
is a mile wide. Into it two steep ice-streams 
cascade from the summit, and avalanches 
. , , , ,. ,^ . fall from a cliff which rises two thousand feet 

Crevasse in Lava glacier, north side of 

Mount Adams. between them. (See pp. 98 and 99.) 



"*^, 




THE MOUNTAINS 



103 







'^^♦Hlj^ 


^ni 




J 



North Peak of Mount Adams, with The Mountaineers be- 
ginning their ascent, in 1911. Their route led up the 
ridge seen here, which divides Lava glacier, on the left, 
from Adams glacier, on extreme right. 



The glacier is more than 
two miles long. It ends at 
an elevation of less than six 
thousand feet, covered with 
debris from a large medial 
moraine formed by the junc- 
tion of the two tributary 
glaciers. Like the other 
Mount Adams glaciers, and 
indeed nearly all glaciers in 
the northern hemisphere, it 
is shrinking, and has built 
several moraines on each 
side. These extend half a 
mile below its present snout, 
and the inner moraines are 
underlaid with ice, showing 
the retreat has been recent. 
South of the Klickitat 
glacier, a part of the original 
surface of the peak remains 
in the great Ridge of Won- 
ders. Rising a thousand feet above the floor of Hellroaring Canyon, which 
was formerly occupied by Mazama glacier, now withdrawn to the slope above, 
this is the finest observation point on the mountain. "The wonderful views 
of the eastern precipices and glaciers," says Reid, "the numerous dikes, the 
well preserved parasitic cone of Little Mount Adams, and the curious forms 
of volcanic bombs scattered over its surface entirely justify the name Mr. Rusk 

has given to this ridge." 

Adams glacier, upon the 
northwest slope, with a length 
of three miles, is the largest on 
the mountain. This and the 
two beautiful ice streams on the 
northeast, named after Prof. W. 
D. Lyman, are notable for their 
ice-falls, half-mile drops of 
tumbling, frozen rivers. 

The naming of the mount- 
ain was a result of the move- 
ment started by Hall J. Kelley, 
the Oregon enthusiast, in 1839. 
The northwestern snow-peaks, 
so far as shown in maps of the 

Snow Bridge over Killing Creek, north of Mount Adams. period, borC the nameS glveU by 




104 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Vancouver as part of his annexation 
for George III. The utihty, beauty 
and historic fitness of the significant 
Indian place names did not occur to 
a generation busy in ousting the In- 
dian from his land; but our grand- 
fathers remembered George III. 
Kelley and other patriotic men of the 
time proposed to call the Cascades the 
"Presidents' Range," and to chris- 
ten the several snow-peaks for indi- 
vidual ex-presidents of the United 
States. But the second quarter of the 
last century knew little about Oregon, 
and cared less. The well-meant but 
premature effort failed, and the only 
names of the presidents which have 
stuck are Adams and Jefferson. Lewis 
and Clark mistook Mount Adams for 
St. Helens, and estimated it "perhaps 
the highest pinnacle in America." 
The Geological Survey has found its 
height to be 12,307 feet. Mount 
Adams was first climbed in 1854 by 
a party in which were Col. B. F. Shaw, Glenn Aiken and Edward J. Allen. 

MOUNT ST. HELENS. 

The world was indebted for its first knowledge of Mount St. Helens to Van- 
couver. Its name is one of the 
batch which he fastened in 
1792 upon our Northwestern 
landmarks. These honored a 
variety of persons, ranging 
from Lord St. Helens, the 
diplomat, and pudgy Peter 
Rainier, of the British Ad- 
miralty, down to members of 
the explorer's crew. 

The youngest of the Cas- 
cade snow-peaks, St. Helens 
is also the most symmetrical 
in its form, and to many of its 
admirers the most beautiful. 
Unlike Hood and Adams, it 
does not stand upon the . ., .^ , . ^ . , ,», .*, _ 

Looking across Adams glacier, northwest side of Mount Adams, 
narrow summit of one of from ridge sliown above. 



Nortli-side Cleaver, with Lava glacier on left. This 
sharp spine was climbed by The Mountaineers 
and the North Yakima Y. M. C. A. party in 1911. 




106 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



the Cascade ranges, but rises west of the main ridges of that system from 
valley levels about one thousand feet above the sea. Surrounded by com- 
paratively low ridges, it thus presents its perfect and impressive cone for 
almost its entire height of ten thousand feet. 

The mountain is set well back from the main traveled roads, in the great 
forest of southwestern Washington. It is the center of a fine lake and river 
district which attracts sportsmen as well as mountain climbers. A large com- 
pany visiting it must carry in supplies and camp equipment, but small parties 
may find accommodation at Spirit Lake on the north, and Peterson's ranch 
on Lewis River, south of the peak. The first is four, the second is eight, miles 




Northwest slope of Mount Adams, with Adams glacier, three miles long, the largest on the mountain. 
It has an ice-fall of two thousand feet. The low-lying reservoir of Pinnacle glacier is on extreme right, 
and the head of Lava glacier on left. 

from the snow line. Visitors from Portland, Tacoma or Seattle, bound for 
the north side, leave the railway at Castle Rock, whence a good automobile 
road (forty-eight miles) leads to the south side of Spirit Lake. Peterson's 
may be reached by road from Woodland (forty-five miles) or from Yacolt 
(thirty miles). Well-marked trails lead from either base to camping grounds 
at timber line. The mountain is climbed by a long, easy slope on the south, 
or by a much steeper path on the north. 

Like Mount Adams, St. Helens is largely built of lava, but the outflows 
have been more recent here than upon or near the greater peak. The volcano 
was in eruption several times between 1830 and 1845. The sky at Vancouver 



THE MOUNTAINS 



107 




LdkeSrHek 



Mount Adams from the southwest, with White Salmon glacier (left) and Avalanche glacier (right) flowing 
from a common source, the cleft between North and Middle Peaks. The latter, however, derives 
most of its support from slopes farther to right. Note the huge terminal moraines built by these 
glaciers in their retreat. Pinnacle glacier is on extreme left. 

was often darkened, and ashes were carried as far as The Dalles. To these 
disturbances, probably, are due the great outflows of new lava covering the 
south and west sides of the mountain, and much of the country between it and 
the North Fork of Lewis River. The molten stream flowed westward to Goat 
Mountain and the "Buttes," of which it made islands; threw a dike across a 
watercourse and created Lake Merrill; and turning southward, filled valleys 
and overwhelmed good forest with sheets of basalt. Upon the slope just north 
of Peterson's, a great synclinal thus buried 
presents one of the latest pages in the vol- 
canic history of the Columbia basin. 

Many hours may be spent with interest 
upon this lava bed. It is an area of the wild- 
est violence, cast in stone. Swift, ropy 
streams, cascades, whirling eddies, all have 
been caught in their course. "Devil's Punch 
Bowl," "Hell's Kitchen," "Satan's Stair- 
way" are suggestive phrases of local descrip- 
tion. The underground galleries here are 
well worth visiting. Tree tunnels and wells 
abound. Most important of all, the struggle 
seen everywhere of the forest to gain a foot- 
hold on this iron surface illustrates Nature's 
method of hiding so vast and terrible a 

callus upon her face. It is evident that the Mount St. Helens, elevation 10,000 feet. 




108 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



healing of the wound began 
as soon as the lava cooled, 
and that, while still incom- 
plete, it is unceasingly 
prosecuted. (See p. 111.) 
The first volcanic dust 
from the uneasy crater of 
St. Helens had no sooner 
lodged in some cleft opened 
by the contraction of cool- 
ing than a spore or seed 
carried by the wind or 




Scenes in the 
canyon of the 
North Fork of 
Lewis River, 



fed by the glaciers 
of Mount Adams 
and Mount St. 
Helens. 



dropped by a bird made a 
start toward vegetation. 
Failing moisture, and 
checked by lack of soil, the 
lichen or grass or tiny 
shrub quickly yielded its 
feeble existence in prepara- 
tion for its successor. The 
procession of rain and sun 
encouraged other futile 
efforts to find rootage. 
Each of these growths 



THE MOUNTAINS 



111 



lengthened by its decay 
the Hfe of the next. With 
winter came frost, scaling 
flakes from the hard sur- 
face, or penetrating the 
joints and opening fissures 
in the basalt. Further 
refuge was thus made 
ready for the dust and 
seeds and moisture of an- 
other season. The moss 
and plants were promoters 



Scenes on great 
lava field south 
of Mount St. 
Helens. The 
lodgepole pine 
thicket above 
shows struggle 
of forest to gain 
a foothold on 
the rich soil 
slowly forming 
over new vol- 




canic rock. The 
peak itself, with 
stunted forest 
at its base, is 
seen next; and 
below, one of 
many "tree tun- 
nels," formed 
when the lava 
flowed over or 
around a tree, 
taking a perfect 
cast of its bark. 



as well as beneficiaries of 
this disintegration. Their 
smallest rootlets found the 
water in the heart of the 
rocks, and growing strong 
upon it, shattered their 
benefactors. 

Soon more ambitious en- 
terprises were undertaken. 
Huckleberry bushes, fear- 
less even of so unfriendly a 
surface, started from every 



112 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



depression among the rocks. The first 
small trees appeared. Weakling pines, 
dwarf firs and alders, shot up for a 
few feet of hurried growth in the 
spring moisture, taking the unlikely 
chance of surviving the later drought. 
Here and there a seedling outlasted 
the long, dry summer, and began to 
be a real tree. Quickly exhausting its 
little handful of new earth, the daring 
upstart must have perished had not 
the melting snows brought help. 
They filled the hollows with wash 
from the higher slopes. The treelets 
found that their day had come, and 
seizing upon these rich but shallow 
soil beds, soon covered them with 
thickets of spindling lodgepole pines 
and deciduous brush. Such pygmy 
forests are at length common upon 
this great field of torn and decaying 
rock, and all are making their con- 
tributions of humus year by year to 
the support of future tree giants. 
These will rise by survival of the fittest as the forest floor deepens and spreads. 
St. Helens, although much visited, has not yet been officially surveyed 
or mapped. Its glaciers are not named, nor has the number of true ice- 
streams been determined. Those on the south and southwest are insignifi- 
cant. Elsewhere, the glaciers are short and broad, and with one exception, 
occupy shallow beds. On the southeast, there is a remarkable cleft, shown 
on page 115, which is doubtless due to volcanic causes rather than erosion, 
and from which the largest 




Lava Flume south of Mount St. Helens, a tunnel 
several miles in length, about twenty feet high 
and fifteen feet wide. 



glacier issues. Another typi- 
cal glacier, distinguished by 
the finest crevasses and ice- 
falls on the peak, tumbles 
down a steep, shallow de- 
pression on the north slope, 
west of the battered para- 
sitic cone of "Black Butte." 
West of this glacier, in turn, 
ridges known as the "Lizard" 
and the "Boot" mark the 
customary north-side path 
to the summit. (See p. 118.) 



^^•L 




Entrance to Lava Cave shown above. Note strata in roof, 
showing successive lava flows; also ferns growing from roof. 




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THE MOUNTAINS 



115 



Beyond these landmarks, on the west side of the peak, a third considerable 
glacier feeds South Toutle River. The ravines cut by this stream will repay 
a visit. (See p. 116.) 

The slopes not covered with new lava sheets and dikes exhibit, below 
the snow-line, countless bombs hurled up from the crater, with great fields 
of pumice embedding huge angular rocks that tell a story not written on 
our other peaks. These hard boulders, curiously different from the soft mate- 
rials in which they lie, were fragments of the tertiary platform on which the 
cone was erected. Torn off by the volcano, as it enlarged its bore, they were 
shot out without melting or change in substance. On every hand is proof 




Mount St. Helens, seen from Twin Buttes, twenty miles away, across the Cascades. View shows the re- 
markable cleft or canyon on the southeast face of the peak. 

that this now peaceful snow-mountain, which resembles nothing else so much as 
a well-filled saucer of ice cream, had a hot temper in its youth, and has passed 
some bad days even since the coming of the white man. 

The mountain was first climbed in August, 1853, by a party which included 
the same T. J. Dryer who, a year later, took part in the first ascent of Mount 
Hood. In a letter to The Oregonian he said the party consisted of "Messrs. 
Wilson, Smith, Drew and myself." They ascended the south side. The 
other slopes were long thought too steep to climb, but in 1893 Fred G. Plummer, 
of Tacoma, now Geographer of the United States Forest Service, ascended 
the north side. His party included Leschi, a Klickitat Indian, probably 
the first of his superstitious race to scale a snow-peak. The climbers found 



116 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Canyons of South Toutle River, west side of St. Helens. These vast trenches in the soft pumice show 
by their V shape that they have been cut by streams from the glaciers above, rather than by the 
glaciers themselves, which, on this young peak, have probably never had a much greater extension. 

evidence of recent activity in two craters on the nortli slope, and photographed 
a curious "diagonal moraine," as regular in shape as a railway embankment, 
which connected the border moraines of a small glacier. The north side has 
since seen frequent ascents. 

The Mazamas, who had climbed St. Helens from the south in 1898, again 

ascended it in 1908, 
climbing by the Liz- 
ard and Boot. This 
outing furnished the 
most stirring chapter 
in the annals of Amer- 
ican mountaineering. 
The north-side 
route proved unex- 
pectedly hard. After 
an all-day climb, the 
party reached the 
summit only at seven 
o'clock. The descent 
after nightfall re- 
quired seven hours. 
The risk was great. 

Lower Toutle Canyon, seen on left above. Note shattered volcanic bomb. UVCr tnC COllar 01 ICC 





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120 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



near the summit, at a grade of more than sixty degrees, the twenty-five men and 
women slowly crept in steps cut by the leaders, and clutching a single fifty- 
foot rope. Later came the bombardment of loose rocks, as the party scat- 
tered down the slope. I quote from an account by Frank B. Riley, secretary 
of the club, who was one of the leaders: 

The safety of the entire party was in the keeping of each member. One touch of hysteria, 
one slip of the foot, one instant's loss of self-control, would have precipitated the line, like 
a row of bricks, on the long plunge down the ice cliff. Eight times the party stood poised on 
its scanty foothold while the rope was lowered. When, after an hour and a half, its last 
member stepped in safety upon the rocks, there yet lay before it five hours of work ere the 
little red eyes below should widen into welcoming campfires. 

Over great ridges, down into vast snowfields, for hours they plunged and slid, while 
scouts ahead shouted back warn- 
ing of the crevasses. On, out of the 
icy clutch of the silent mountain, 
they plodded. And then, at last, 
the timber, and the fires and the 
hot drinks and the warm blankets 
and the springy hemlock boughs! 

Even this was not the 





Glacier scenes, north side of Mount 
St. Helens, east of the "Lizard." 

most noteworthy adventure 
of the outing. One evening, 
while the Mazamas gath- 
ered about their camp fire 
at Spirit Lake, a haggard 
man dragged himself out of the forest, and told of an injured comrade lying 
helpless on the other side of the peak. The messenger and two companions 
— Swedish loggers, all three — had crossed the mountain the morning before. 
After they gained the summit and began the descent, a plunging rock had 
struck one of the men, breaking his leg. His friends had dragged him down 
to the first timber, and while one kept watch, the other had encircled the 
mountain, in search of aid from the Mazamas. 

Immediately a relief party of seven strong men, led by C. E. Forsyth of Castle 
Rock, Washington, started back over the trailless route by which the messenger 
had come. All night they scaled ridges, climbed into and out of canyons, waded 
icy streams. Before dawn they reached the wounded laborer. Mr. Riley says: 



THE MOUNTAINS 



121 



It was impossible to carry the man back through the wild country around the peak. Below, 
the first cabin on the Lewis River lay beyond a moat of forbidding canyons. Above slanted 
the smooth slopes of St. Helens. Placing the injured man upon a litter of canvas and alpine 
stocks, they began the ascent of the mountain with their burden. The day dawned and grew 
old, and still these men crawled upward in frightful, body-breaking struggle. Twelve hours 
passed, and they had no food and no sleep, save as they fell unconscious downward in the 
snow, as they did many times, from fatigue and lack of nourishment. At four o'clock, Ander- 
son was again on the summit. Then, without rest, came the descent to the north. Down 
precipitous cliffs of ice they lowered him, as tenderly as might be; down snow-slopes seared 
with crevasses, shielding him from the falling rocks; over ridges of ragged lava, until in the deep- 
ening darkness of the second night they found themselves again at timber. But in the net-work 
of canyons they had selected the wrong one, and were lost. Here, at three o'clock, they were 
found by a second relief party, and guided over a painful five-mile journey home. 




Finest of the St. Helens glaciers, north side, with Black Butte on left. It is proposed to call this 
"Forsyth glacier," in honor of C. E. Forsyth, leader in a memorable rescue. 



It was day when camp was reached. In an improvised hospital, a young 
surgeon, aided by a trained nurse, both Mazamas, quickly set the broken 
bones. Then they sent their patient comfortably away to the railroad and a 
Portland hospital. Before the wagon started, Anderson, who had uttered no 
groan in his two days of agony, struggled to a sitting posture, and searched 
the faces of all in the crowd about him. 

"Ay don't want ever to forget how you look," he said simply; "you who 
have done all this yust for me." 

It is fitting that such an event should be commemorated. With the 
approval of Mr. Riley and other Mazamas who were present at the time, I 
would propose that the north-side glacier already described, the most beau- 
tiful of the St. Helens ice-streams, be named "Forsyth glacier," in honor 
of the leader of this heroic rescue. 




Road among the Uoufthis Firs. 






Ships loading lumber at one of Portland's large mills. 



III. 



THE FORESTS 

By HAROLD DOUGLAS LANGILLE 

As the lowlander cannot be said to have truly seen the element of water at all, so even 
in his richest parks and avenues he cannot be said to have truly seen trees. For the resources 
of trees are not developed until they have difficulty to contend with; neither their tenderness 
of brotherly love and harmony, till they are forced to choose their ways of life where there 
is contracted room. The various action of trees, rooting themselves in inhospitable rocks, 
stooping to look into ravines, hiding from the search of glacial winds, reaching forth to the 
rays of rare sunshine, crowding down together to drink at sweetest streams, climbing hand 
in hand the difficult slopes, gliding in grave procession over the heavenward ridges — nothing 
of this can be conceived among the unvexed and unvaried felicities of the lowland forest. 

— Ruskin: "Modern Painters." 



S 



TAND upon the icy summit of any one of the Columbia's snow-peaks, and 
look north or west or south across the expanse of blue-green mountains 
and valleys reaching to 



the sea; your eyes will rest 
upon the greatest forest the 
temperate zone has produced 
within the knowledge of man. 
Save where axe and fire 
have turned woodland into 
field or ghostly "burn," the 
mantle is spread. Along the 
broad crests of the Cascades, 
down the long spurs that lead 
to the valleys, and across the 
Coast Range, lies a wealth of 
timber equaled in no other 
region. The outposts of this 




Outposts of the Forest. Storm-swept White-bark Pines 
on Mount Hood. 



124 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




great army of trees 
will meet you far 
below. 

Rimming about 
your peak, braving 
winds and the snows 
that drift in the lee 
of old moraines, and 
struggling to break 
through the timber- 
line, six thousand 
feet above the sea, 
somber mountain 
hemlocks {Tsuga 
mertensiana) and 
lighter white-bark 

pines (Pinus albicaulis) form the thin vanguard of the forest. They meet the 
glaciers. They border the snow-fields. They hide beneath their stunted, 
twisted forms the first deep gashes carved in the mountain slopes by eroding 
streams. Valiant protectors of less sturdy trees and plants, their whitened 
weather-sides bear witness to a fierce struggle for life on the bleak shoulders 
of the peaks. 

Make your way, as the streamlets do, down to the alpine glades, on the 
high plateaus, where anemone, erythronium and calochortus push their buds 
through lingering snow-crusts. The scattered trees gather in their first groups. 



Alpine Hemlocks at the timber-line on Mt. Adams. Mt. Hood in distance. 




*&t:^ 



Mazania I'arty resting among the sub-alpine firs in a tlower-carpeted 
foot of Mount St. Helens 



"park" at the 



THE FORESTS 



125 



Just within their 
shelter pause for 
a moment. Vague 
distance is nar- 
rowed to a dimin- 
utive circle. The 
mystery of vast- 
ness passes. 
Sharp indeed is 
the division be- 
tween storm- 
swept barren and 
forest shelter. 

Here ravines, 
decked with 
heather, hold 
streams from the 
snowd r if ts — 
streams that hunt 
the steepest de- 
scents, and glory 
in their leaps from 
rock to rock and 
from cliff to pool. 
If it be the spring- 
time of the moun- 
tains- late July— 
the mossy rills will 
be half concealed 
beneath fragrant 
white azaleas that 
nod in the breezes 
blowing up with the ascending sun and down with the turn 
of day. Trailing over the rocks, or banked in the shelter 
of larger trees, creeping juniper {Juniperus communis), least 
of our evergreens, stays the drifting sands against the 
drive of winds or the wash of melting snows. 

Along the streams and on sunny slopes and benches 
are the homes of the pointed firs. Seeking protection from 
the storm, the spire-like trees cluster in tiny groves, among 
which, like little bays of a lake, the grassy flowered meadows 
run in and out, sun-lit, and sweet with rivulets from the 
snows above. If you do not know these upland "parks," 
there is rare pleasure awaiting you. A hundred mountain 
blossoms work figures of white and red and orange and 




A Lowland Ravine. Cedars, Vine Maples, Devil's Club 
and Ferns, near Mount St. Helens. 



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The "Noble" Fir. 



126 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Dense Hemlock Forest, lower west slope of Mount Hood. 

blue in the soft tapestry of green. In such glades the hush is deep. Only 
the voice of a waterfall comes up from the canyon, or the whistle of a 
marmot, the call of the white-winged crows and the drone of insects break 

the stillness. 

The outer rank 
of hemlock and fir 
droops its branches 
to the ground to 
break the tempest's 
attack. Within, sil- 
ver or lovely fir 
(Abies amahilis) 
mingles with hardier 
forms. Its gray, 
mottled trunks are 
flecked with the 
yellow-green of 
lichen or festooned 
with wisps of moss 




Mount Hood from Ghost-tree Ridge. Whitened trunks of trees killed by 
forest fires. 




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J- 



THE FORESTS 



129 



down to the level of the big 
snows. And here, a vertical 
mile above the sea, you meet 
the daring western hemlock 
{Tsuga heterophylla) , which 
braves the gale of ocean and 
mountain alike, indifferent to 
all but fire. It is of gentle 
birth yet humble spirit. It 
accepts all trees as neighbors. 
You meet it everywhere as 
you journey to the sea. But 
on the uplands only, in a 
narrow belt like a scarf 
thrown across the shoulders 
of the mountain, sub-alpine 
fir (Abies lasiocarpa) sends 
up its dark, attenuated 
spires, in striking contrast 
with the rounded crowns of 
its companions. 

A little lower, the transi- 
tion zone offers a noteworthy 
intermingling of species. 
Down from the stormy 
heights come alpine trees to 
lock branches with types 
from warmer levels. Here 
you see lodgepole pine (Pinus 
murrayana), that wonderful 
restorer of waste places which 
sends forth countless tiny 
seedlings to cover fire-swept 
areas and lava fields with 
forerunners of a forest. 
Here, too, you will find western white pine (Pinus monticola), the fair lady 
of the genus, whose soft, delicate foliage, finely chiseled trunk, and golden 
brown cones denote its gentleness; and Engelmann spruce (Picea Engelmannii) 
of greener blue than any other, and hung with pendants of soft seed cones, 
saved from pilfering rodents by pungent, bristling needles. 

Here also are western larch or tamarack (Larix occidentalis); or, rarely, 
on our northern peaks, Lyall's larch (Larix Lyallii), whose naked branches 
send out tiny fascicles of soft pale leaves; and Noble fir (Abies nobilis), stately, 
magnificent, proud of its supremacy over all. And you may come upon a 
rare cluster of Alaska cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) , here at its southern 




On the road to Government Camp, west of Mount Hood. Broad- 
leaf Maple on extreme right; Douglas Firs arching the road- 
way, and White Fir on left. 



130 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




limit, reaching 
down from the 
Coast range of 
British Colum- 
bia almost to 
meet the Great 
sugar pines 
(Pinus lambert- 
iana) which 
come up from 
the granite 
heights of the 
California sierra 
to play an im- 
portant role in 
the southern 
Oregon forests. 
Across the 
roll of ridge and 
canyon, you see 
them all; and 
when you come 
to know them 
well, each form, 
each shade of 
green, though 

far away, will claim your recognition. Yonder, in a hollow 
of the hills, a cluster of blue-green heads is raised above 
the familiar color of the hemlocks. Cross to it, and stand 
amidst the crowning glory of Nature's art in building trees. 
About you rise columns of Noble firs, faultless in symmetry, 
straight as the line of sight, clean as granite shafts. Carry 
the picture with you; nowhere away from the forests of 
the Columbia can you look upon such perfect trees. 

Westward of the Cascade summits the commercial 
forest of to-day extends down from an elevation of about 
3,500 feet. Intercepted by these heights, the moisture- 
laden clouds are emptied on the crest of the range. East- 
ward, the effects of decreasing precipitation are shown both 
in species and in density. Tamarack, white fir and pines 
climb higher on these warmer slopes. Along the base 
of the mountains, and beyond low passes where strong 
west winds drive saturated clouds out over level reaches, 
Where man's a pygmy, vvestem yellow pine iPinus vonderosa) becomes almost the 

A Noble Fir, 175 feet , r^ ■-, n ^ ■, ■, n i .i 

to first limb. only tree. Over miles of level lava flow, along the upper 




Firs and Hemlocks, in Clarke County, Washington. 



THE FORESTS 



131 




Deschutes, this species forms 
a great forest bounded on the 
east by rolHng sage-brush 
plains that stretch south- 
ward to the Nevada deserts. 
Beyond the Deschutes drain- 
age, where spurs of the Blue 
mountains rise to the levels 
of clouds and moisture, the 
forest again covers the hills, 
spreading far to the east 
until it disappears again in 
the broad, treeless valley of 
Sn^ke river. North of the 
Columbia the story is the 
same. From the lower slopes 
of Mt. Adams great rolling 
bunch-grass downs and prai- 
ries reach far eastward. Here 
and there, over these drier 
stretches, stand single trees 
or clusters of western juni- 
per (Juniperus occidentalis) . 
But on the west slope of 
the Cascades, and over the Coast range, the great forests spread in unbroken 
array, save where wide valleys have been cleared by man or hillsides strip- 
ped by fire. Here, in the land of warm sea 
winds and abundant moisture,the famous 
Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia), Pacific 
red cedar {Thuja plicata) and tideland 
spruce (Picea sitchensis) attain their great- 
est development. These are the monarchs 
of the matchless Northwestern forests, to 
which the markets of the world are look- 
ing more and more as the lines of exhausted 
supply draw closer. 

Douglas fir recalls by its name one 
of the heroes of science, David Douglas, a 
Scotch naturalist who explored these forests 
nearly ninety years ago, and discovered 
not only this particular giant of the 
woods, but also the great sugar pine and 
many other fine trees and plants. As a 
pioneer botanist, searching the forest, 

Sawyers preparing to "fall" a large l_^ , , . . , , 

Tideland Spruce. Douglas presented a surprismg spectacle 



Fifty-year-old Hemlock growing on Cedar log. The latter, 
which was centuries old before it matured and fell, was 
still sound enough to yield many thousand shingles. 




132 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 



to the Indians. "The Man 
of Grass" they called him, 
when they came to under- 
stand that he was not bent 
on killing the fur-bearing 
animals for the profit to be 
had from their pelts. 

The splendid conifer which 
woodsmen have called after 
him is one of the kings of all 
treeland. The most abundant 
species of the Northwest, it is 
also, commercially, the most 
important. Sometimes reach- 
ing a height of more than 250 
feet, it grows in remarkably 
close stands, and covers vast 
areas with valuable timber that 
will keep the multiplying mills 
of Oregon and Washington 
sawing for generations. In 
the dense shade of the forests, 
it raises a straight and stalwart 
trunk, clear of limb for a hun- 
dred feet or more. On the older 
trees, its deeply furrowed bark 
is often a foot thick. Trees 
of eight feet diameter are at 
least three hundred years old, 
and rare ones, much larger, 
have been cut showing an age 
of more than five centuries. 
To these areas of the great- 
est trees must come all who would know the real spirit of the forest, at once 
beneficent and ruthless. Here nature selects the fittest. The struggle for soil 
below and light above is relentless. The weakling, crowded and overshadowed, 
inevitably deepens the forest floor with its fallen trunk, adding to the humus 
that covers the lavas, and nourishing in its decay the more fortunate rival 
that has robbed it of life. Here, too, with the architectural splendor of the 
trees, one feels the truth of Bryant's familiar line: 

The }j,-rovi'S were God's first temples. 

The stately evergreens raise their rugged crowns far toward the sky, arching 
gothic naves that vault high over the thick undergrowth of ferns and vine 
maples. In such scenes, it is easy to understand the woodsman's solace, of 




Sugar Pine, Douglas Fir, and Yellow Pine. 



THE FORESTS 



133 



which Herbert Bashford tells in his "Song of the 
Forest Ranger:" 

I would hear the wild rejoicing 

Of the wind-blown cedar tree, 
Hear the sturdy hemlock voicing 

Ancient epics of the sea. 
Forest aisles would I be winding, 

Out beyond the gates of Care; 
And in dim cathedrals finding 

Silence at the shrine of Prayer. 
* * * * 

Come and learn the joy of living! 

Come and you will understand 
How the sun his gold is giving 

With a great, impartial hand! 
How the patient pine is climbing, 

Year by year to gain the sky; 
How the rill makes sweetest rhyming 

Where the deepest shadows lie! 

Fir, spruce and cedar you will see along the 
slopes of the Cascades in varying density and gran- 
deur, from thickets of slender trees reclaiming 
fire-swept lands to broken ranks of patriarchs whose 

crowns have swayed 
before the storms of 
centuries. Among 
the foot hills, the pale 
gray"grand"or white 
firs (Abies grandis) 
rear their domes 
above the common 
plane in quest of 
light, occasionally 
attaining a height of 
275 feet, while the 
lowly yew (Taxus 
brevifolia), of which 
the warrior of an 
earlier time fashioned 
his bow, overhangs 
the noisy streams. In 
the same habitat, 
where the little rivers 
debouch into the val- 
leys, you may see 
the broad-leaf maple, 
Oregon ash, cotton- 

Yellow Cedar, with young Silver Fir. WOOd, and a SCOrC of 




^ 



One of the Kings 
— A Douglas 



of Treeland 
Fir. 



134 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Firs and Vine Maples in Washington Forest. 

lesser deciduous trees on which the filtered rays of sunshine play in softer tones. 

Here and there in the Willamette valley you meet foothill yellow pine 

(Pinus ponderosa var. henthamiana) , near relative of the western yellow 

pine. Oregon oak (Quercus garryana) occurs sparingly throughout the valleys, 

or reaches up the western foothills 
of the Willamette, until it meets 
the great unbroken forest of the 
Coast Range. 

The dense lower forests are never 
gaily decked, so little sunlight enters. 
But in early summer, back among 
the mountains, you may find tangles 
of half-prostrate rhododendron, from 
which, far as the eye can reach, the 
rose-pink gorgeous flowers give back 
the tints of sunshine and the irides- 
cent hues of raindrops. Mingled with 
the flush of "laurel" blossoms are 
nodding plumes of creamy squaw 
grass, the beautiful xerophyllum. 

Towing a log raft out to sea, bound for the California , i j a 

markets. Often this Queculy upland flower 





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136 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 





A Noble Fir. 



covers great areas, hiding the desolation wrought by- 
forest fires. Its sheaves of fibrous rootstocks furnish 
the Indian women material for their basket-making; 
hence the most familiar of its many names. The varied 
green of huckleberry bushes is everywhere. They are 
the common ground cover. 

In valley woodlands, the dogwood, here a tree of 
fair proportions, lights up the somber forest with round, 
white eyes that peer out through bursting leafbuds, 
early harbingers of summer. The first blush of color 
comes with the unfolding of the pink and red racemes 
of flowering wild currant. Later, sweet syringa fills 
the air with the breath of orange blossoms; and spirea, 
the Indian arrowwood, hangs its tassels among the 
forest trees or on the bushy hills. But the presence of 
deciduous trees and shrubs, as well as their beauty, is 
best known in autumn, when maples brighten the woods 
with yellow rays; when dogwood and vine maple paint 
the fire-scarred slopes a flaming red, and a host of other 
color-bearers stain the cliffs with rich tints of saffron 
and russet and brown. 

Coming at last to 
the rim of the forest, 
you look out over the 
sea, where go lumber- 
laden ships to all the 
world. Close by the 
beach, dwarfed and 
distorted by winds of 
the ocean, and 
nourished by its fogs, 
north- coast pine 
(Pinus contorta) ex- 
tends its prostrate 
forms over the cliffs 
and dunes of the shore, 
just as your first ac- 
quaintance, the white- 
bark pine, spreads 
over the dunes and 
ridges of the mount- 
ain. They are broth- 
ers of a noble race. 

You have traversed 

the wonder- forest western white Pine 




THE FORESTS 



137 




A Clatsop Forest. On extreme right is a Silver Fir, 
covered with moss; next are two fine Hemlocksi 
with Tideland Spruce on left. 



of the world, and on your journey 
with the stream you may have 
come to know twenty-three spe- 
cies of cone-bearers, all indigenous 
to the Columbia country. Of these, 
one is Douglas fir, nowise a true fir 
but a combination of spruce and 
hemlock; seven are pines, four true 
firs, two spruces, two hemlocks, two 
tamaracks or larches, two cedars, 
two junipers, and the yew. 

So many large and valuable trees 
of so many varieties can be found 
nowhere else. A Douglas fir growing 
within the watershed of the Columbia 
is twelve feet and seven inches in 
diameter. A single stick 220 feet 
long and 39 inches in diameter at 
its base has been cut for a flagpole 
in Clatsop county. A spruce twenty 
feet in diameter has been measured. 
Such immense types are rare, yet 
in a day's tramp through the Columbia forests one may see many trees 
upwards of eight feet in diameter. One acre in the Cowlitz river water- 
shed is said to bear twenty-two trees, each eight feet or more at its base. 
Though no exact measurements can be cited, it is likely that upon dif- 
ferent single acres 400,000 feet, board measure, of standing timber may be 
found. And back among the Cascades, upon one forty-acre tract, are 
9,000,000 feet — enough to build a town. Manufactured, this body of timber 
would be worth $135,000, of which about $100,000 would be paid to labor. 

Along the Colum- 
bia you will hear 
shrill signals of the 
straining engines 
that haul these gi- 
gantic trees to the 
rafting grounds. Up 
and down the broad 
river ply steamboats 
trailing huge log- 
rafts to the mills. 
Each year the log- 
ging railroads push 
farther back among 

A Carpet of Firs; 300,000 feet, cut on one acre in a Columbia forest. the mOUUtalnS, tO 




138 



THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA 




Winter in tJie forest. Mount Hood seen fiom Government Camp road. Twenty feet of snow. 

bring forth lumber for Australia, the Orient, South America, Europe and 
Africa. Many of our own states, which a few years ago boasted "inexhaust- 
ible" forests, now draw from this supply. 

Since 1905 Washington has been the leading lumber-producing state of 
the Union, and Oregon has advanced, in one year, from ninth to fourth place. 
The 1910 production of lumber in these states was 6,182,125,000 feet, or 15.4 
per cent, of the total output of the United States, The same states, it is 
estimated, have 936,800,000,000 feet of standing merchantable timber, 
or a third of the country's total. 

This is the heritage which the centuries of forest life have bequeathed. 
Only the usufruct of it is rightfully ours. Even as legal owners, we are neverthe- 
less but trustees of that which was here before the coming of our race, and 
which should be here in great quantity when our trails have led beyond the 

range. Our duty is 
plain. Let us uphold 
every effort to give 
meaning and power 
to the civil laws 
which say: "Thou 
shalt not burn;" to 
the moral laws which 
say: "Thou shalt not 
waste." Let us un- 
derstand and support 
that spirit of con- 
Rangers' Pony Trail in forest of Douglas and Silver Firs. SerVatlon whlch 




THE FORESTS 



139 



demands for coming 
generations the ful- 
lest measure of the 
riches we enjoy. For 
although the region 
of the Columbia is 
the home of the great- 
est trees, centuries 
must pass ere the 
seedlings of to-day 
will stand matured. 
Reforestation is in- 
dispensable as insur- 
ance. Let us see to 
it that the untillable 
hills shall ever bear these matchless forests, emerald settings for our snow- 
peaks. On their future depends, in great degree, the future of the Northwest. 
As protectors of the streams that nourish our valleys, and perennial treas- 
uries of power for our industries, they are guarantors of life and well- 
being to the millions that will soon people the vast Columbia basin. 




Forest Fire on east fork of Hood River. From a photograph taken at 
Cloud Cap Inn five minutes after the fire started. 




'■^:-i 



Reforestation- 



-Three generations of young growth; Lodgepole Pine in foreground; Lodgepole and 
Tamarack thicket on ridge at right; Tamarack on skyline. 



NOTES 

Transportation Routes, Hotels, Guides, etc. — The trip from Portland to north 
side of Mount Hood is made by rail (Oregon-Washington Ry. & Nav. Co. from Union station) 
or boat (The Dalles, Portland & Astoria Nav. Co. from foot of Alder street) to Hood River, 
Ore. (66 miles), where automobiles are taken for Cloud Cap Inn. Fare, to Hood River, by 
rail, $1.90; by boat, $1.00. Auto fare, Hood River to the Inn, $5.00. Round trip, Portland 
to Inn and return, by rail, $12.50; by boat, $12.00. Board and room at Cloud Cap Inn, $5.00 
a day, or $30.00 a week. Accommodations may be reserved at Travel Bureau, 69 Fifth street. 

To Government Camp, south side of Mount Hood (56 miles), the trip is made by electric 
cars to Boring, Oregon, and thence by automobile. Cars of the Portland Railway, Light & 
Power Co., leave First and Alder streets for Boring (fare 40 cents), where they connect with 
automobiles (fare to Government Camp, $5.00). Board and room at Coalman's Government 
Camp hotel, $3.00 a day, or $18.00 a week. 

Guides for the ascent of Mt. Hood, as well as for a variety of side trips, may be engaged 
at Cloud Cap Inn and Government Camp. For climbing parties, the charge is $5.00 per 
member. 

The trip to Mount Adams is by Spokane, Portland & Seattle ("North Bank") Railway 
from North Bank station or by boat (as above) to White Salmon, Wash., connecting 
with automobile or stage for Guler or Glenwood. Fare to White Salmon by rail, $2.25; round 
trip, $3.25; fare by boat, $1.00. White Salmon to Guler, $3.00. Board and room at Chris. 
Guler's hotel at Guler P. O., near Trout Lake, $1.50 a day, or $9.00 a week. Similar rates to 
and at Glenwood. At either place, guides and horses may be engaged for the mountain trails 
(15 miles to the snow-line). Bargain in advance. 

The south side of Mount St. Helens is reached by rail from Union station, Portland, to 
Yacolt (fare $1.30) or Woodland ($1.00), where conveyances may be had for Peterson's ranch 
on Lewis River. To the north side, the best route is by rail to Castle Rock (fare, $1.90), and 
by vehicle thence to Spirit Lake. Regular guides for the mountain are not to be had, but 
the trails are well marked. 

Automobile Roads. — Portland has many excellent roads leading out of the city, along .ne 
Columbia and the Willamette. One of the most attractive follows the south bank of the 
Columbia to Rooster Rock and Latourelle Falls (25 miles). As it is on the high bluffs for 
much of the distance, it commands extended views of the river in each direction, and of 
the snow-peaks east and north of the city. Return may be made via the Sandy River valley. 
This road is now being extended eastward from Latourelle Falls to connect with the road 
which is building westward from Hood River. When completed the highway will be one 
of the great scenic roads of the world. 

From Portland, several roads through the near-by villages lead to a junction with the 
highway to Government Camp on the south side of Mount Hood (56 miles). The mountain 
portion of this is the old Barlow Road of the "immigrant" days in early Oregon, and is now 
a toll road. (Toll for vehicles, round trip, $2.50.) Supervisor T. H. Sherrard, of the Oregon 
National Forest Service, is now building a road from the west boundary of the national forest, 
at the junction of Zigzag and Sandy rivers, crossing Sandy canyon (see p. 71), following the 
Clear Fork of the Sandy to the summit of the Cascades, crossing the range by the lowest pass 
in the state (elevation, 3,300 feet), and continuing down Elk Creek and West Fork of Hood 
River to a junction with the road from Lost Lake into Hood River valley. The completion 
of this road through the forest reserve will open a return route from Hood River to the Gov- 
ernment Camp road, through a mountain district of the greatest interest. 

Southward from Portland, inviting roads along the Willamette lead to Oregon City, 
Salem, Eugene and Albany. From Portland westward, several good roads are available, leading 



NOTES 141 

along the Columbia or through Banks, Buxton and Mist to Astoria and the beach resorts 
south of that city. North of the Columbia (ferry to Vancouver), a route of great interest 
leads eastward along the Columbia to Washougal and the canyon of Washougal River (45 
miles). From Vancouver northward a popular road follows the Columbia to Woodland and 
Kalama, and thence along the Cowlitz River to Castle Rock. 

The tour book of the Portland Automobile Club, giving details of these and many other 
roads, may be had for $1.50 in paper covers, or $2.50 in leather. 

Bibliography. — The geological story of the Cascade uptilt and the formation of the 
Columbia gorge is graphically told in Condon: Oregon Geology (Portland, J. K. Gill Co., 1910). 
For the Columbia from its sources to the sea, Lyman: The Columbia River (New York, G. P. 
Putnam's Sons, 1909) not only gives the .best account of the river itself and its great basin 
but tells the Indian legends and outlines the period of discovery and settlement. Irving: 
Astoria and Winthrop: The Canoe and the Saddle are classics of the early Northwest. Balch: 
Bridge of the Gods, weaves the Indian myth of a natural bridge into a story of love and war. 

The literature of the mountains described in this volume is mainly to be found in the 
publications of the mountain clubs, especially Mazama (Portland), The Sierra Club Bulletin 
(San Francisco) and The Mountaineer (Seattle). Many of their papers have scientific value 
as well as popular interest. It is to be hoped that the Mazamas will resume the publication 
of their annual. 

Russell : Glaciers of N. Am. p. 67 ; Emmons : Volcanoes of the U. S. Pacific Coast, in 
Bulletin of Am. Geog. Soc, v. 9, p. 31 ; Sylvester : Is Mt. Hood Awakeningi in Nad Geog. 
Mag., V. 19, p. 515, describe the glaciers of Mt. Hood. Prof. Reid has published valuable 
accounts of both Hood and Adams, with especial reference to their glaciers, in Science, n. 
s., V. 15, p. 906 ; Bui. Geol. Soc. of Am., v. 13, p. 536, and Zeitschrift fur Gletscherkunde, 
V. 1, p. 113. An account of the volcanic activities of St. Helens by Lieut. C. P. Elliott, U. S. 
A., may be found in U. S. Geog. Mag., v. 8, pp. 226, and by J. S. Diller in Science, v. 9, p. 639. 

The ice caves of the Mt. Adams district are described in Balch: Glacieres, or Freezing Caverns, 
which covers similar phenomena in many countries; by L. H. Wells, in Pacific Monthly, v. 13, 
p. 234 ; by R. W. Raymond, inOverland Monthly, v. 3, p. 421; by H. T.;Finck in Nation, v. 57, p. 342. 

Dryer's account of the first ascent of Mt. St. Helens may be found in The Oregonian of 
September 3, 1853, and his story of the first ascent of Mt. Hood in The Oregonian, August 
19, 1854, and Littell's Living Age, v. 43, p. 321. 

The Mountain Clubs. — For the following list of presidents and ascents of the Mazamas, 
I am indebted to Miss Gertrude Metcalfe, historian of the club: 

PRESIDENTS. OFFICIAL ASCENTS. 

1894 Will G. Steel Mt. Hood, Oregon. 

1895 Will G. Steel— L. L. Hawkins Mt. Adams, Washington 

1896 C. H. Sholes Mt. Mazama (named for the Mazamas, 1896), Mt. McLough- 

lin (Pitt), Crater Lake, Oregon. 

1897 Henry L. Pittock Mt. Rainier, Washington. 

1898 Hon. M. C. George Mt. St. Helens, Washington. 

1899 Will G. Steel Mt. Sahale (named by the Mazamas, 1899), Lake Chelan, Wash. 

1900 T. Brook White Mt. Jefferson, Oregon. 

1901 Mark O'Neill Mt. Hood, Oregon. 

1902 Mark O'Neill Mt. Adams, Washington. 

1903 R. L. Glisan Three Sisters, Oregon. 

1904 C. H. Sholes Mt. Shasta, California. 

1905 Judge H. H. Northup Mt. Rainier, Washington. 

1906 C. H. Sholes Mt. Baker (Northeast side). Wash. 

1907 C. H. Sholes Mt. Jefferson, Oregon. 

1908 C. H. Sholes Mt. St. Helens, Washington. 

1909 M. W. Gorman Mt. Baker (Southwest side), and Shuksan, Washington. 

1910 John A. Lee Three Sisters, Oregon. 

1911 H. H. Riddell Glacier Peak, Lake Chelan, Wash. 

1912 Edmund P. Sheldon Mt. Hood, Oregon. 



142 NOTES 

The organization and success of the Portland Snow Shoe Club are mainly due to the enthu 
siastic labors of its president, J. Wesley Ladd. Between 1901 and 1909, Mr. Ladd took 
private party of his friends each winter for snow shoeing and other winter sports to Ch 
Cap Inn or Government Camp. Three years ago it was determined to form a club and er 
a house near Cloud Cap Inn. The club was duly incorporated and a permit obtained 
the United States Forest Service. Mr. Ladd, who has been president of the club since 
formation, writes me: 

"Our club house was started in July, 1910, and was erected by Mr. Mark Weygar'' 
the worthy mountain guide who has conducted so many parties to the top of Mt. Hood. 
is built of white fir logs, all selected there in the forest. I have been told in a letter from vh 
Montreal Amateur Athletic Club of Montreal, Canada, that we have the most unique a^ 
up-to-date Snow Shoe Club building in the world. The site for the house was selecter' 
Mr. Horace Mecklem and myself, who made a special trip up there. The building was finished 
in September, 1910 It is forty feet long and twenty four feet wide, with a six-foot fireplace 
and a large up-to-date cooking range. The organizers of the club are as follows: Harry L. 
Corbett, Elliott R. Corbett, David T. Honeyman, Walter B. Honeyman, Rodney L. Glisan, 
Dr. Herbert S. Nichols, Horace Mecklem, Brandt Wickersham, Jordan V. Zan, and myself." 

The Portland Ski Club was organized six years ago, and has since made a trip to Govern 
ment Camp in January or February of each year. The journey is made by vehicle until snow 
is gained on the foothills, at Rhododendron; the remaining ten miles are covered on skis. 
The presidents of the club have been: 1907, James A. Ambrose; 1908, George S. Ludeis; 
1909, Howard H. Haskell; 1910, E. D. Jorgensen; 1911, G. R. Knight; 1912, John C. Cahalin. 

The Mountaineers, a club organized in Seattle in 1907, made a noteworthy assent of 
Mount Adams in 1911. 

Climate. — The weather conditions in the lower Columbia River region are a standing 
invitation to outdoor life during a long and delightful summer. W^estern Oregon and Wash- 
ington know no extremes of heat or cold at any time of the year. The statistics here 
are from tables of the U. S. Weather Bureau, averaged for the period of government recora: 

Mean annual rainfall: Portland, 45.1 inches; The Dalles, 19 inches. Portland averr 
164 days with .01 of an inch precipitation during the year, and The Dalles 74 days; but 
long and comparatively dry summer is indicated by the fact that only 27 of these day 
Portland and 15 at The Dalles fell in the summer months, June to September inclusive. 

Mean annual temperature varies little between the east and west sides of the Cascaaes, 
Portland having a 57-year average of 52.8° as compared with 52.5° at The Dalles. ^ 
the range of temperature is greater in the interior. Thus the mean monthly temperature 
for January, the coldest month, is 38.7° at Portland and 32.6° at The Dalles, while for J' ' 
the hottest month, it is 67.3° at Portland and 72.6° at The Dalles. 

While mountain weather must always be an uncertain quantity, that of the Northwestern 
snow-peaks is comparatively steady, owing to the dry summer of the lowlands. During 
July and August, the snow-storms of the Alps are almost unknown here. After the midd' 
of September, however, when the rains have begun, a visitor to the snow-line is liab 
encounter weather very like that recorded by a belated tourist at Zermatt: 

First It rained and tiien it blew. 
And then it friz and then it snew, 
And then it fogged and then it thew; 
And very shortly after then 
It blew and friz and snew again. 

Erratum. — On page 72, I have been misled by Dryer's statement into crediting the first 
ascent of Mount Hood to Captin Samuel K. Barlow, the road builder. The mountain climber 
was his son, William Barlow, as I am informed by Mr. George H. Himes, of the Oregon His- 
torical Society. 



INDEX 

Figures in light face type refer to the text, those in heavier type to illustrations. 



'Ih.as. Mt.. Indian legend of its 
'•?in. 43; routes to, 66. 67; 
cture and glaciers. 89-104; 
p flows. 93-97; tree casts. 94; 
ijives. 94-96: routes to summit, 
100: name, 103; height. 104; 
'i-t ascent, 104; views of, 8, 
17, 31, 63, 86-107. 
•' glacier. Mt. Adams, 100, 
i03, 104, 106 
.\lps. character and scenery, 60 
Archer Mountain, 29 
.Arrowhead Mountain, 29, 31 
Astoria. 51, 16, 21 
Automobile roads, 140 
Avalanche glacier, Mt. Adams. 100, 

107 
Barlow. William, ascent of Mt. 

Hood, 72, 79, 142 
Rarlow road. 70. 142, 78 
Barrett Spur, 86, 57, 69, 75 
Bibliographj-, 141 
Blue Mountains, 18. 24 
•'Bridge of the Gods." Indian 

legend. 36-43; 21, 35 
Bryce, James, on Northwestern 

mountains. 60 
Cabbage Rock. 47 
Cape Horn, 19 
Carbon glacier, 102 
Cascade locks, 39 
Cascade Mountains, 18, 24, 25. 28, 

30. 58-66 
€asle Rock (Columbia River), 28, 

29. 31 
' Rock, Wash., 106. 

group of red. 128 
• ^ Falls (Tumwater), 52, 54 
atchie Prairie, 114 
look wind, Indian legend of 
origin. 46-48 
te, 142 
Cap Inn, 15, 67, 78, 57, 58, 
66 

Range, 58 
glacier. Mt. Hood, 78, 80, 83- 
f,t, 69, 72, 75 
Columbia River, John Muir's de- 
■'•'ption, 15; dawn on, 15-23; 
gorge, 30; Indian legends of 
its origin, 36-43; its discovery 
■" V Capt. Gray, 51; struggle for 
ownership, 50-52; its settle- 
ment. 52; views of 7, 9, 14-52, 
56, 109 
Columbia Slough, 18, 21 
"Coming of the White Man," 

statue, 23 
<""oper Spur, Mt. Hood, 79, 80, 87, 
"'-60 

Rock, 81, 87, 77, 80 
The, 18, 39, 96, 107, 46, 
49 

. David. 131 
Doufcias firs, 131, 132. 122. 130, 
132, 133 

-, T. J., 72, 115 

glacier. Mt. Hood, 15, 67, 
83-86, 17, 58-67, 73, 92 
est, on lava beds, 94, 107-112, 

rorests. The," chapter by Har- 
old Douglas Langille. 123-130, 
122-139 

Forsvth. C. E.. leader in rescue on 
Mt. St. Helens, 121 

Glacieres, freezing caves. 95, 96, 87 

Glenwood, Wash., 68, 96 

Goldendale, Wash., 68 

Government Camp, 68, 70, 140, 142, 
78, 81 

"Grant Castle," on the Columbia, 
46 



Gray, Capt. Robert, 51 
Guler, Wash., 68, 96, 89, 90 
Hellroaring Canyon, 103, 95, 96, 97 
Hood, Mt., dawn on, 15: Indian 
legend of its origin, 43: John 
Muir on, 57: routes to, 66-70; 
lirst ascent, 72, 75; height. 75. 
76: the Mazamas organized on 
summit. 75; structure and gla- 
ciers, 75-89; summit. SO. 6, 55, 
70; crater, 81. 82. 77; lava bed. 
,S9: views of 6, 14, 17, 21, 57-85, 
123. 124, 138 
Hood River. 43. 85 
Hood River (citv). Ore., 67, 140, 

43, 109 

Hond River Vallev. 18, 63. 66, 67, 

44 
Hudson's Bay Company, 51 
Ice caves. 95. 96. 87 
Illumination Rock. 81 77, 79 
Indians, legend of the creation. 32: 

"Bridge of the Gods." 36-43; 

origin of the Chinook wind, 46-48; 

value of their place names. 104; 

Leschi. first Indian to scale a 

snow-peak. 115; 21, 23, 26, 30, 

44, 50, 52 
Japan current, 46 
,Tefferson, Mt.. 104. 83 
Kelley. Hall J., 103 

Klickitat glacier, Mt. Adams, 97- 

lO.T; 94, 97-100 
Klickitat River. 68. 144 
Ladd glacier. Mt. Hood, 78, 80, 

83-86. 69. 75 
Langille. Harold Douglas, "The 

Forests." 123-139. 
Langille, William A, 80 
Lava beds, tree casts, caves, etc.. 

near Mt. Adams. 89-96. 86, 87; 

near Mt. St. Helens. 107-112. 111. 

112; struggle of the forest to 

cover. ,108-112. Ill 
Lava glacier, Mt. Adams, 100, 101- 

104 
Lewis and Clark, exploration. 51 
Lewis River. 106, 107. 108 
Lily, the Mt. Hood. 81 
Lone Rock. 19, 29 
Loowit, the witch woman, 41-43 
Lyle. Wash. 68. 9. 45 
Lyman glaciers, Mt. Adams. 100. 

101 
Lyman. Prof. W. D.. 51. 82. 103 
Mazama glacier. Mt. Adams. 97. 

100. 94. 96 
Mazama Rock. Mt. Hood. 70 
Mazamas. mountain club, organiza- 
tion. 75; ascents of Mt. .St. 

Helens. 116; an heroic rescue, 

120. 121: presidents. 142: as- 
cents, 142; 80, 82, 93, 117, 124 
Memaloose Island, 42 
Mountains, importance in scenerv, 

59 
"Mountain that was 'God,' " 105 
Mountaineers. The, 142. 103 
Multnomah Falls. 26, 27, 28 
Newton Clark glacier, Mt. Hood, 

79. 87. 83. 84 
Noble fir. 129. 1.30. 125. 130, 136 
North Yakima, Wash.. 68 
Oneonta gorge. 30, 32 
Oregon, its geological story, 23- 

.32: its settlement, 50-54 
Petnrson's, near Mt. St. Helens. 

106. 107 
Plummer, Fred G., 115 
Pinnacle glacier, Mt. Adams, 100. 

106, 107 
Portland, Ore., 57, 140, 7, 22, 61, 

113 



Portland Automobile Club, 70, 340 

Portland Ski Club, 142, 81 

Portland Snow-shoe Club, 142, 57, 
62. 66 

"Presidents' Range," 104 

Pnget Sound, 27 

Rainier. Mt. or Mt. Tacoma, and 
Rainier National Park, 83, 102, 
51, 105, 113, 117 

Red Butte, Mt. Adams, 86 

Refcircst.-ition. 139 

Rcid. Prof. Harry Fielding, 87, 103, 
79 

Rhododendrons, 1.34, 127 

Ridge of Wonders, Mt. Adams, 
103. 96, 98, 99 

Riley. Frank B.. 120. 121 

Rocky Mountains, 23 

Rooster Rock. 25 

Rusk, C E. 103 

Rusk glacier, Mt. Adams, 100, 102, 
98, 101 

Ruskin. John, quoted, 59, 60, 123 

"Sacajawea," statue, 23 

Sacramento Vallev, origin, 26 

.Salmon fishing, 16, 25, 33, 36, 48 

Sandv glaciers and canvon, Mt. 
Hood. 86. 87. 71, 76 

Sandy. Ore., 51 

San Joaquin Vallev, origin, 21 

Shaw, Col. B F., 104 

.Siskiyou Mountains, 24 

South Butte, Mt. Adams, 96, 89 

Speelyei. the coyote god, 32, 47 

Spirit Lake, 106. 4 

Squaw grass. 134. 135 

Steel's Cliff. 81, 91 

St. Helens. Mt.. Indian legend of 
its origin. 43; compared with Mt. 
.\dams, 90. 94: discovery and 
name, 104; structure, 104-6 
height, 106: routes to, 106; re- 
cent eruptions, 106, 107; lava 
beds, 107-112; glaciers, 112-115 
routes to summit, 112-116; vol 
canic phenomena, 115; first as 
cent, 115; the Mazamas on, 116 
120. 121; an heroic rescue, 120, 
121; views of, 4, 8, 15, 17, 108- 
121 

St. Peter's Dome, 20, 31 

.Sylvester. A. H.. 86, 87 

Tiible Mountain, 31, 35, 36 

Tontle River canyons, Mt. St. 
Helens. 115, 116 

Tree casts. 94. 107-, 111 

Trout Lake. 15, 62, 66, 76, 89, 110 

Fmatilla, Ore., 62 

T'matilla Indian village, 50 

Vancouver, Capt. George. 72. 104 

Vancouver, Wash., 106, 15, 24 

Volcanoes, 27. 28 

White River glacier, Mt. Hood, 81, 
75 77 82 

White Salmon, Wash., 67, 140, 42, 
44 

White Salmon glacier, Mt. Adams. 
100. 107 

White Salmon River, 41 

White .Salmon Valley, ,56, 89 

Willamette River, 21. 57, 9, 113 

Wind Mountain. 39, 40 

Woodland. Wash.. 106. 140 

Yacolt. Wash., 106, 140 

Yakima Indians, 48, 21 

Y. M. C. A., party on Mt. Hood, 
76: on Mt. .\dams. 86 

Yocum. O. C. 70 

Zigzag glacier, Mt. Hood. 81. S7, 
77, 79 

Zigzag River and Canyon, 86, 87, 
48, 78 




Klickitat River Canyon, near Mount Adams. 



ENGRAVINGS BY THE H rCKSCH ATTEN CO 

COLOR PRINTING BY THE KILHAM STATIONERY AND PRINTING CO 
PORTLAND. OREGON 



AUG 8 1912 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

ill" II" 111 II' '! 111111111 




